Manitou Springs boys basketball coach Nick Nunley was getting tired of seeing his team score in the 40s and 50s. So, he decided to put some skin, or rather some hair, in the game when the Mustangs traveled to James Irwin. Nunley told his team that if they scored 80, he’d shave his mustache – a part of his signature look for years.
The starters held up their end and with the game well in hand, he turned to the end of the bench. When sophomore Ayden Polizzi buried a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Mustangs an 80-50, the entire bench erupted. Then in the locker room, the seniors took turn with a razor.
This act was just one way that Nunley is trying to band a team together – and it is really starting to come into form. The best effort of the season may have been in a loss to Banning Lewis on Jan. 16, but since then, the Mustangs (9-4 overall, 3-2 Tri-Peaks) have been on fire.
“It started as a half-joke during open gyms,” Nunley said. “I thought they forgot about it, but as soon as we got in season and they realized they could put some numbers up, they told me they were taking that mustache one of these days. It was a great bonding moment and those are things that kids, and even myself, will always remember.”
The offensive surge was a welcome sight, but that doesn’t mean that the Mustangs are okay with giving up anything on the defensive end. They’ve done solid work in holding teams under 60. Only University, Middle Park and Rye have broken that mark. Manitou lost to University and Middle Park but beat Rye 70-65 on Jan. 27.
The next stage of this team’s development has been growth on the offensive end. Part of what has helped is inserting freshman Tommy Reed into the starting lineup. His basketball instincts and general lack of fear have helped generate scoring opportunities early. It helps that he’s one of the players that has been arriving to school early to take advantage of an opportunity to get shots up in the gym.
They told me they were taking that mustache one of these days. – Coach Nick Nunley
“We’ve been making an effort to get shots up outside of practice,” Reed said. “It’s been helping us shoot better and play better on offense.”
The Mustangs are now winners of three straight games and scored at least 70 points per game in that streak. Reed broke out with 21 points against the Thunderbolts. The Mustangs are likely to see some better defensive efforts from their opponents in the coming weeks, but the confidence is there that they can score big when they need to. All it takes is the motivation to get extra reps and when they’re in game action, playing with their hair on fire.
“We have to keep the same intensity in practice and keep getting shots up outside of practice,” Reed said. “If we can do that, we’ll see where it takes us.”
Currently sitting at No. 23 in the Class 4A Selection and Seeding Index, the intensity and work ethic looks like it can take the Mustangs back to the playoffs.
Donegan snags historic win for girls wrestling program
Girls wrestling is in just its fifth year as a CHSAA sanctioned sport in Colorado, so history within a lot of programs is there for the taking.
Last weekend, Kara Donegan took hold of some history for Manitou Springs. The Mustangs senior snagged her 30th win of the season at the Chatfield Warhorse tournament. It was her final win of the weekend and it came by pinning Mead’s Makayla Martinez in two minutes, 14 seconds.
Constantly paying attention to benchmark wins, this is one that coach Paul Bonners knows can plant seeds for future wrestlers to grow toward when they walk into the door of the program.
“It’s important to have a big milestone,” Bonner said. “All three of the older girls [Donegan, Alex Traenkle and Abbie Reeves] have had a chance or still have a chance of getting to that milestone. Abbie, fortunately, has been more on the championship side of the bracket, so she’s gotten fewer matches.”
Reeves is currently sitting at 23-4 and didn’t get a chance to add to that number last weekend because of sickness. In fact, just Donegan and Hannah Rickert battled at the two tournaments the girls competed at over the weekend. They started in Canon City, then moved up to Chatfield.
The Mustangs were supposed to have a tri-meet against Mesa Ridge and Woodland Park on Jan. 28, but the sickness running through the team forced a cancellation.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that regionals are still over a week away. There may not be an ideal time for a bug to run through a wrestling team, but as far as timing goes this might be the best the Mustangs can ask for.
“That might actually be just what the doctor ordered,” Bonner said. “We’ll have to see.”
Bonner also said that the focus for the team over these next three weeks is get healthy and then stay that way until they get through the state tournament.
“We need to stay healthy and stay the course,” Bonner said. “Those kids have been focused on a goal and they need to stay the course and not let anything derail them.”
Both the boys and girls teams head south this week to compete at the league tournaments. Then all eyes turn to regionals where they’ll try to earn a trip to Ball Arena in Denver for the state tournament.
