Robbie Mulh averages about one 3-pointer every two games but that didn’t stop Cardinal coach Jon Cummins from feeding him the ball in the closing seconds of Cardinal’s 72-69 win over visiting Grand Valley on Friday.
Following a timeout with five seconds left and the score tied, Mulh received an inbound pass from Parker Kosh and heaved up the game-winner.
“He was down at the bottom block and went diagonally to cut to the ball and I just said to throw it up to him and he’ll get it,” Cummins said. “(Kosh) made sure he got it to him and a guy had his hand on the ball and Robbie just powered through it from down by his knees and shot it that way. It was pretty ugly but it went in.”
Mulh simply did as he was instructed.
“When we were in the timeout, coach said, ‘Robbie, go get the ball at the top and shoot it,’ so I did what he told me,” Mulh said. “I just got the ball and let it fly. I wasn’t really thinking, I just let it go. When I made it I was in shock.”
That shot wouldn’t have mattered had the Huskies not battled back from a nine-point deficit with less than three minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The two teams battled to a 30-30 halftime tie and Cardinal led, 54-52, heading into the final eight minutes.
Grand Valley went on a run early in the fourth leaving Cardinal in a dire situation.
“They really stuck together as a team, especially in the fourth quarter,” Cummins said. “That’s really what we’ve been preaching as a coaching staff is they have to come together when times get tough. They stuck together and believed in each other. Each person made a nice play at different points in the fourth quarter to get us that team win.”
Robbie Bruncak led the Huskies with 20 points and Muhl finished with 19. Kosh and Matt Carney also scored in double figures with 13 and 12, respectively.
Hayden Cummins and Mulh both pulled down eight rebounds for the Huskies, who finished with 23 as a team.
With the win, the Huskies improved to 10-11 overall. They can close out the regular season with a .500 record if they beat Newbury on Tuesday.
“We talked to them before the game started to forget about the game we played on Tuesday night (a 54-44 loss at Ravenna Southeast) because that was by far the worst game we played all season,” Cummins said. “We asked them what they want out of the season, what are they looking for? Are they looking to just show up and play or do they want to come out and play and win this game and then come out and play Newbury next week and take that into the tournament? It’s up to them, do they want to finish up .500 or below .500 and go into the tournament.”
how bout that win??? @ grand valley? pic.twitter.com/sUCSbJLu4E
— alexis? (@lexi_christman) February 17, 2018
Cardinal 72 Grand Valley 69
Grand Valley: Mitchell 27, Cunningham 16, McGovern 9, Seger 8, Evans 5, Bogdan 4
Cardinal: Bruncak 20, Carney 12, Mulh 19, Timas 6, Kosh 13, Cummins 2
Grand Valley 12 18 22 17 — 69
Cardinal 11 19 24 18 — 72
Free throws: Grand Valley 5 of 9, Cardinal 7 of 12; 3-pointers: Grand Valley 7 (Mitchell 5, Seger 2), Cardinal 8 (Bruncak 4, Kosh 2, Mulh, Carney).
