The Manitou Springs High School boys’ basketball team played at St. Mary’s on Jan. 18.

It was a very anticipated game for both schools. Last year St. Mary’s pulled away with a 72-53 win against the Mustangs. 

These two teams have been rivals for  decades and there have been some conflicts in the past. At the end of the basketball game last year against St. Mary’s, both crowds of students and parents got into a conflict. There were not any injuries, but there was physical contact.

The Mustangs were eager to win this game since they have lost to their rivals for the past two years. The Mustangs fought extremely hard in this one and were up 44-27 by the half. The boys won 90-66. All week in practice, the boys’ head basketball coach, Brian Vecchio, was emphasizing stopping the 3 ball. “St. Mary’s can definitely shoot the ball pretty well, so if we could stop some of the shots we knew we had a good chance,” Vecchio said.

 To help prepare for this rivalry game the teams had to work harder in the practices leading up to the game. “We did a lot of running because we knew they are a very fast paced team,” said Nathan Gentzel (11). 

Another thing Vecchio had been emphasizing in the practices leading up to the game was to make sure they were playing as a team. “The shots will happen if we run the plays right and play as a team,” said Vecchio.

The Mustangs went into the game extremely confident knowing that St. Mary’s had lost some of their best players from last year. This caused some unexpected stress at the start of the game. “Tensions were high, especially after the first quarter when we were down and we didn’t expect that,” said Jarrin Hall (10).

 The Mustangs are now 10-4 after the St. Mary’s and Ellicott games. The team believes they are serious playoff contenders and are willing to do anything to prove that. “Just look at the stats and how we play. We have confidence we can get there,” said Gentzel. 

The next game will be on Jan. 26 at home against Banning Lewis Academy and the Mustangs are feeling good about that game.

The Mustangs pride themselves on their hard work ethic “I don’t think any team prepares like we do,” said Evan Yount (11).