In close games, there is no bigger truth than the idea that every point counts. That’s why missed free throws and a technical foul played a huge part Wednesday as Manitou Springs hung on to beat The Classical Academy 42-37.

The host Titans (2-3 overall) needed a boost in the third quarter as they trailed the Mustangs (2-0) by four points. It appeared they would get it when forward Will Ball made a clean steal and had nothing but air between him and the basket. He took off, looking to slam the ball, but lost his handle and hung on to the rim too long for the ref’s liking.

Rather than the Titans pulling to within two points, Ball was assessed with a technical foul, which happened to be his fourth personal foul.

“He was going to go off one leg and he went off two,” Titans coach Paul Campbell said. “My rule is if you go for a dunk you’d better make it so he’ll be doing some running tomorrow at practice.”

Offense was limited for both teams in the first half and it took a last-second 3-pointer by Titans guard Josh Haddad to give TCA a one-point lead.

The scoring opened up for both teams in the second, but it was the Mustangs’ effort defensively that they felt made the difference in the end.

“We didn’t shoot the free throws very well and that kind of hurt us,” Mustangs coach Ken Vecchio said. “If you play as hard as they did, you can kind of overcome those mistakes and I thought the last three minutes defensively, we had one mistake fouling on a 3-pointer, but other than that we played really hard.”

Senior Darwin Frederickson led the Mustangs in scoring with nine points, but the most crucial points for any player came from the three free throws in the fourth quarter from sophomore guard Lucas Rodholm. After shooting 3 of 10 from the charity stripe in the first three quarters, the Mustangs went 8 of 15 in the final eight minutes.

The Titans shot 0 for 5 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Though he didn’t show up much in scoring, it was the command of the offense by freshman point guard Cole Sienknecht that had just as big of an impact as Frederickson’s nine points or Rodholm’s clutch free throws.

“He’s a competitor, he hates to lose and he hates failure,” Vecchio said. “If he messes up, he isn’t going to do it too many times.”

Sienknecht was patient enough to let the Mustangs develop their game through the first half and execute more of what they needed to do in the second. That’s how this young season has developed for the Mustangs.

“We usually start slow in the first half, but in the second half we kick it up and do everything right,” Sienknecht said. “Right now I’m pretty happy with what we’re doing.”

Manitou Springs freshman point guard Cole Sienknecht talks about his team’s victory over TCA on Wednesday. Image from a video by Dan Mohrmann.