Rustlers split at the Snow Invitational

The Rustlers record moved to 10-3, as they split on the road against tough teams at the Snow Invitational in Ephraim, Utah.  The Rustlers lost to Snow College on Friday (94-96), but bounced back Saturday to beat Utah State Eastern (85-76).  Central's aggressive offensive play continues to pay off, as they were able to get to the line 32 times against Snow.  Unfortunately, with the score tied at 94 and 2.5 seconds on the game clock, Snow was able to hit the game winner.  Marquis White led the way for Central scoring 22 points on 69% shooting from the field and 80% from the line.  Irshaad Hunte added 18, Broc Finstuen 17, Henry Tanksley 12 and Devon Colley 10.

In the win against Utah State Eastern the Rustlers got to the line nearly 40 times as they shot 79% on 38 attempts.  Irshaad Hunte was perfect from the free throw line (7-7), as he scored 23 points and added 7 rebounds.  Teammate Baris Ulker scored half of his 16 points from the line, as he shot a perfect 8-8 at the charity stripe.  Other leading scores for Central were Henry Tanksley with 12 and Marquis White with 11.

"Overall, I would say it was a really solid weekend for us.  Obviously it would be great and we would prefer to come home with two wins, but overall I was happy with how we played.  On Friday night against Snow College I knew that one would be extremely tough. It was their home opener and they are a very good team.  Offensively we were very good, but defensively I thought we regressed from where we were earlier in the week.  Giving up 96 points is going to make it tough to win a lot of games.  Thankfully we refocused and bounced back to get a win on Saturday.  I was really happy with our execution defensively.  I think that was what allowed us to win.  For the first time this year I thought we gained energy from getting stops, whereas typically this season it's been the other way around.  When we are scoring we play a little harder and are a little more focused.  We need to keep that mentality and feed from our defense and not just our offense."  -Coach Nelson