When the Mingus boys basketball team traveled to Kingman to take on Lee Williams on Feb. 4, it was short-handed. The Marauders had only seven players, which contributed to a frustrating two-point loss. The two teams met again on Friday, Feb. 26. This time, Mingus had a full roster. It showed on the scoreboard.
Three Marauders — senior center Zach Figy, junior swingman Dante Gabaldon and sophomore guard Brasen Durkalec — finished the game with more points than any of the Volunteers. The rest of the Lee Williams team couldn’t come close to making up that gap, as Mingus coasted to a 56-36 victory.
“We came out and played a lot harder than we did up there,” Figy said. “Up there we came out of the gates playing hard but we only had seven players. That isn’t an excuse. We should have beaten them anyway. But in this game, we finished all the way through the game. We didn’t stop midway like we did up there.”
The effort showed on the scoreboard throughout the game, as the Marauders won all four quarters. Even in the fourth quarter, when the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt and the Mingus reserves were in the game, Lee Williams couldn’t even close the gap with cosmetic points in garbage time.
“We just played harder,” Gabaldon said. “The defense was way better this time. We ran our offense way better than last time. We were sloppy last game. Less sloppy today.”
As a testament to that, not only did Figy, Gabaldon and Durkalec all outscore any of the Volunteers, but the 46 that the three combined for [17 from both Figy and Gabaldon and 12 from Durkalec] outscored the entire Lee Williams team by 10.
Mingus coach Albert Rodriguez attributed the team’s performance to not only playing hard all game but maintaining the plan that was laid out ahead of time.
“We played great,” Rodriguez said. “They came out hungry right from the tip and they stayed hungry. We talked about having that sense of urgency throughout the game. The kids did a good job responding and sticking to that game plan.”
The win over the Volunteers proved to be the Marauders final game of the season. Mingus had four games remaining on the schedulebut those had to be canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
With that, the season ends with a 4-9 overall record with a 3-7 mark in 4A Grand Canyon Section Play. After the win over Lee Williams, Figy felt that despite the record, the Marauders knew that they can compete with the best teams around.
“We can play with anybody,” Figy said. “We showed that when we played Bradshaw at home and lost to them by two. They’re up there in the top 10 in 4A.”
His coach agreed.
“When we have our full team here, we’re a good team,” Rodriguez added. “I think they’re coming along. They’re working hard in practice. We’re just going to focus on ways that we can get better, improve and continue to move forward.”
