On Friday night, the Mustangs avenged that loss, which came at the hands of Panther Creek. They held on for a 68-63 victory over the Catamounts in Tri-Eight Conference boys basketball.

"My kids have a lot of pride," said Mustangs coach David Kushner, noting that Middle Creek (23-1, 14-1) already had the conference locked up. "We used that loss as motivation. We put the 62-53 [score] on the board every day since that last game with them. I thought Panther Creek played amazingly well tonight -- just kept making big shot after big shot, but we kept our composure."

While Panther Creek's Earnest Ross scored a game-high 31 points, it was a pair of Mustangs who each scored 19 points: Nelson Kirksey and Garrius Adams.

And even though the duo dominated in the first three quarters, the score was still tied.

It took a score-by-committee approach for the Mustangs to finally pull ahead in the fourth quarter, something Adams and Kirksey had no qualms about.

"As long as people keep stepping up, and buckets are being made, we really don't care about offense -- it's all our defense," Kirksey said.

Phillip Connelly, Kip Kelley and Brian Proulx combined for 17 points in final quarter.

Panther Creek coach L.J. Hepp said he was impressed with Middle Creek's defense.

"They're by far the best team we played defensively this year," Hepp said.

There's a chance that the Mustangs and Catamounts (17-7, 9-5) could meet again in the conference tournament, as they finished first and second, respectively, in the Tri-Eight.

"I hope we see them," Kushner said. "To play them on a neutral court, I think everybody would want to see that game."