Explosive Offense Lifts Mustangs Over Dragons

After an up-and-down start to their 2010-2011 season, the Brick Memorial Mustangs showed every bit of what their offense can do in a 85-62 win over cross-town rival Brick Township, Tuesday night on the 'Stangs' home turf.

The Mustangs exploded in the second quarter, out-scoring the Dragons by a notch of 22-6 and taking a commanding lead they would never relinquish.

"We were just looking to come out here and put four quarters together," 'Stangs head coach Ed Sarluca said. "We are still working on our consistency and I think the speed of the game caught up to [Brick Township] and we kind of kept going."

After a 20-18 score in the Mustangs favor after the third quarter, Memorial would go on to out-score Brick 65-44 for the win.

"It's what we work on," Sarluca said. "We like that other teams like to come play here to take on our style and we don't feel like they can keep up with us."

Tim O'Shea led the Mustangs' fiery attack, finishing with 23 points and 9 rebounds, scoring 21 of those points through three quarters. Fellow big man Rob Hirzel contributed as well, with 11 points and six rebounds.

"We've been waiting for them to step up and become leaders," Sarluca said of O'Shea and Hirzel. "I hope this game gives them a little bit of confidence so when we go through the A-South, those guys aren't going to be afraid to show up every night."

Junior Kevin Johnson also reached double-figures for Memorial, notching 10 points off the bench.

Derek Creed scored just two points on the night, however, it came off an emphatic dunk that enticed the student section to rise to their feet early in the second quarter.

Noland Edwards and Gerell Walker finished with eight and seven points, respectivley as the balanced Mustangs proved to be too much.

Vince Lombardi and Travis Poston each finished with six points.

James Walker led the way for Brick, notching 14 points for the Dragons while senior Nick Vitale added 12 and Dylan McDonnel tallied 11.

Julio Rivera added nine points for a Dragons team that only saw scoring from seven players.

When asked if the win was the best of the season, Sarluca simply responded, "It's the most important, but we need to move on and keep it up."

The Mustangs will look to build off the win when they take on divisional rival Jackson Memorial at home on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

"We hope to build a little momentum from this, it's all about confidence," he said. "When we play confidently, we can compete with anyone that we play."