Maitland's outstanding Waratah League Basketball campaign ended at the free-throw line, with the Mustangs missing 21 shots from the charity strip in their 81-72 loss to Central Coast in the semi-final on Saturday night.
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"We gave ourselves every opportunity to win the game, but when it came to executing from the free-throw line that's where we lost it," Mustangs coach Luke Boyle said. "It was really unlikely people too, Dan (Millburn) and Terrell (Turner) usually shoot at a really high percentage from the free-throw line and they had an off night."
Millburn scored a game-high 31, shooting at 52 per cent from the floor and had a huge game in defence as well in the absence of Josh Clifford, who would normally have been assigned key Crusaders player and former Mustang Mitch Rueter.
"With 31 points you can't ask the kid to do more, we asked him and Terrell to keep some of the other guards down and they did a good job on that," Boyle said.
"Jack thought he broke his ankle, but it looks like it is dislocated and in the third Sam Huggins did his ankle," Boyle said. "Sam came limping off in the third and I thought it as because of his Achilles (tendon) which he had been having some dramas with. I didn't know it was his ankle and I subbed him back in in the fourth and he just played his way through it. They both ended up going to the hospital and are both in moon boots."
Boyle said it was disappointing way to end the season.
"I can't fault the boys. They didn't do anything in particular to beat us, because they didn't, we had every opportunity to win but didn't take it," he said.
"They did try but the ball just kept bouncing out.
"I have to commend the boys on their ability to just stick in games and keep going it is phenomenal.
"There were a few times there where they got on a run and got some points on us, but the boys always just managed to find their way to hit a shot to break their runs.
"A few of their guys were hitting shots they don't normally get, It was a big game for them and you could tell and there was a lot of energy for them."