Bath press stifles Mustangs

LAFAYETTE - Allen East jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead over Bath on Friday night and things looked up - briefly - for the winless Mustangs.

The visiting Wildcats immediately answered with four 3-pointers over the next 2 minutes and the deficit turned into a quick 12-5 lead for Bath.

The Wildcats (1-2) never looked back as they raced to a 58-28 victory over the struggling Mustangs as they garnered their first win of the season.

Bath took a 16-7 lead after one period thanks in large part on the strength of five treys against the various zone defenses employed by Allen East.

The Mustangs (0-4) got in early foul trouble when starting point guard Aaron Swaney picked up his third foul with 3 minutes to play in the first quarter and was forced to the bench for the rest of the first half.

The Mustangs were unable to find an answer to the full court pressure that Bath used and went to the half trailing 25-13.

"I thought we had opportunities to score in the first half and didn't take advantage," Bath coach Doug Davis said. "We were quick to shoot and didn't make that extra pass to find the open man. In the second half, we made that pass and found the open man plus our pressure wore them out a bit."

That pressure forced the Mustangs into 26 turnovers for the game compared to only 12 for the Wildcats.

"Our point guard (Swaney) got in foul trouble and we aren't very deep," Allen East coach Chris Cockerell said. "We have to play smarter and get better at handling pressure; we panic and don't move the ball."

Bath outscored the Mustangs 33-15 in the second half to pull away for the victory.

Both teams struggled shooting the ball as the Wildcats finished shooting 32 percent on 18 of 55 from the floor. The Mustangs struggled with a 33 percent night as they connected on just 12 of 36 from the field.

Bath won the other statistical battles as they out rebounded Allen East by a 37 to 21 margin and also connected on 12 of 20 from the free throw line compared to only one of nine for the Mustangs.

Bath had three players score in double digits, led by junior guard Dre White with 12 points. Junior Dillon Bok added 11 points off the bench and Chase Foster chipped in with 10 points for the Wildcats. Nine players scored for the Wildcats to provide both balance and depth to the Wildcats offensive effort.

The Mustangs meanwhile struggled mightily to put points on the board and were led by E. J. Laing with seven points and Swaney who added six points.