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Mustangs Win Second Battle Of #1 Vs #2

January 19, 2009 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Southeast Texas Mavericks News Release


The ABA's #1 ranked Southeast Texas Mustangs (12-1) defeated the #2 ranked Texas Fuel (7-3) on Sunday night on the Fuel's home court in San Antonio, TX 89-82.

The Mustangs secured their 11th straight win with their victory and is the hottest team in all of professional basketball at this time.

"It has been amazing to watch this team mature and develop! We still have a long way to go, but we've definitely done some good things on the basketball court to this point in the season." stated Mustangs Head Coach Steve Tucker.

The Fuel came out determined to even its season series with the Mustangs as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead to open up the game. The Fuel was led again by point guard Leonard Brown as he set the tone both offensively and defensively for the Texas Fuel. The Fuel was up by as many as 10 points in the first quarter. But a late run by the Mustangs cut the Fuels lead to 29-25 as the first quarter came to a close.

The second quarter followed suit as the Fuel opened up another 8 point lead, but the Mustangs played their entire bench in the first half and it paid dividends as a late run by the Mustangs led by Tim Pledger and Anthony Lumpkin allowed the SETX Mustangs to go in the locker-room up 42-41 at halftime.

The third quarter belonged to the Mustangs as they came out firing on all cylinders and the Mustangs bench led by Lumpkin, Antonio Lawrence, Lamar Sanders, Jerry Williams, and Donald Harris built a 17 points lead with 4:30 to play in the third quarter. A final two baskets by Keith Simpson and Brown shaved the lead to 13 heading into the final period of play.

In the final quarter, the Fuel battled with all they had to cut the Mustangs lead to just 2 with 2:30 to play and had two consecutive possessions where they could have tied the score, but the Mustangs defense stiffened and when Lawrence, Lumpkin, and Rutledge scored consecutive baskets the Mustangs found themselves back up by 8 points. Pledger again hit key free-throws and the Mustangs finished off their 11th straight win and pushed their record to 6-0 on the road thus far this season.

The Mustangs were led in scoring by Rutledge, who collected another double/double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Currye Todd added 12 points, while Lawrence, Harris, and Lumpkin each scored 11 points respectively. Brown led the Fuel in scoring with 13 points.

Southeast Texas will be off until next Sunday, January 25th, when they will host the Mississippi Blues at home at the Ford Arena in Beaumont, TX. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 PM.

For further information on tickets or on the SETX MUSTANGS call #409/951-5500 or go online to www.setxmustangs.com or www.abalive.com. MINI-TICKETS PACKAGES for 3 and 5 games are available to purchase NOW!

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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