Munster, Brandon Trilli hold off AJ Lux and Crown Point in thriller

The Mustangs won, repelling a late-charged Crown Point to win a 46-44 game.

“I think we could have played much better as a team. I don’t think we were as focused as we should have been. At the end of the day we win,” said Senior Brandon Trilli. “It’s nice to be 6-0 up, but we still have a lot to learn. I thought we were better prepared.”

Munster led by eight points with 1 minute and 30 seconds to go. Up to this point, Crown Point had only scored two field goals in the second half.

Then Bulldogs guard AJ Lux hit a 3-pointer. Then he met another. Then the Mustangs couldn’t contain the ball and were called up for five seconds. Münster missed three of four free throws and Lutz hit a third three. He was fouled on the fourth try with 0.4 seconds left but missed the second free throw and Munster escaped.

“I saw how we didn’t run (in the last few minutes). I’ve seen us make bad decisions. I’ve seen us miss free throws. I saw how we didn’t listen to what you were told from the downtime. We did everything we could to give this game away,” said Mustangs coach Mike Hackett. “We are happy.”

Lux ended the game with a game-high 29 for Crown Point (4-2), including five of 13 hits from behind the arc.

Trilli had 28 points to go with his nine rebounds. He was nine for 11 at the free throw line.

“This is the first game where we’ve been in a situation where we have to push through to the last second,” Hackett said. “We’ll learn from it and get better but I’m just not happy with how we handled the last two minutes of this fourth quarter.”

The teams traded the lead in the first two quarters and battled it out in a 23-23 draw at halftime. Munster went into the final frame with a 3-point advantage.

No team shot better than 35%.

“Thank God we played a decent defense,” Hackett said. “Offensively we missed a lot of open shots. We had good looks from kids who usually take shots but we missed them. We’re lucky tonight. We will watch a film and work on our listening and execution at the end of the games.”

The Mustangs had a full week between games and haven’t played since a win over EC Central last Friday. However, Trilli said the team had a good week of training.

“These weeks are going to be long, but we’ve gotten used to it by now. It’s no excuse for us not to be prepared or not having enough finishing plays,” he said. “Even though it was a win, we still have a lot to learn from.”