By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher LINWOOD — The Mainland Regional High School boys basketball team knows what its identity is, and the Mustangs don’t often stray from the formula they believe is a winning one. Tough man-to-man defense, 6-foot-9 center Jake O’Neill distributing the ball from the foul line and grabbing rebounds, consistent outside shooting from the guards and big plays from forward Dean Deveney in crunch time. That formula was on display on Sunday afternoon as the Mustangs (3-1) held off a scrappy Barnegat team 53-44 to win the inaugural Mustang Invitational tournament. Drew Dalzell led Mainland with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Deveney — named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player — finished with 15. A pair of Dalzell threes gave Mainland a 41-38 lead with just less than six minutes remaining, and moments later Deveney finished off a traditional 3-point play to make it 44-40. Two more buckets by Deveney pushed the lead to 48-40, and Mainland hit enough of its free throws in the final two minutes to hold off the Bengals (1-4). “We know our strengths and we know our weaknesses. We try to excel with our strengths and even do what we can to excel in our weaknesses. We come out and play hard every day and let that take care of itself,” Dalzell said. “I think we have a really good concept of what kind of basketball we like to play and how we like to do it, and I think we’ve all bought in already. I think every day we’re just going to keep getting better. I think we have a lot of good stuff ahead of us.” 
Dean Deveney goes up for a layup during Mainland’s 53-44 win over Barnegat in the inaugural Mustang Invitational. Deveney scored 15 points and was named the tournament’s MVP for helping to lead the Mustangs to the title. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Mainland coach Dan Williams said he’s not surprised that Deveney has started to show what he is capable of. He was a key contributor off the bench during last season’s run to the South Jersey Group 3 championship game. “That’s only surprising to people who aren’t in here every day at our practices. He actually started early in the year last year, but we got to the point where our league was so strong with guards that we had to throw another guard in. So he came out of the starting lineup, but with his work ethic he absolutely just destroys people in practice on a regular basis,” Williams said. “If you came to one of our practices you’d say, ‘yeah, I get it. This kid is the real deal.’ And the great thing is we’ll have him for another year.” Nick Camarato led all scorers with 22 points, and also scored 15 in Barnegat’s 41-40 win over Hammonton in the tournament’s opening game on Saturday. Earlier Sunday, Lindenwold topped Hammonton 59-39 in the consolation game. Williams wasn’t happy with his starting five’s defensive effort in the first quarter. Mainland took a 17-16 lead into the second quarter, but Williams put in his second unit at the start of that quarter for the first few minutes to give his starting five a little bit of a wake-up call. “He wanted us to understand that when we go back in we need to get the job done because we didn’t in the first quarter. It was awesome to see those guys go out and do what they had to do,” Dalzell said. Ben Kleva provided a big spark early in that second quarter, nailing a pair of 3-pointers, and Clebens Demosthenes hit another as Mainland built a 24-16 lead. “It’s awesome to see everyone on the team do well because this is a team-oriented game. No matter what one player does, it takes the whole team to do what we want to do,” Dalzell said. “That was a tough win. Anytime you have good guards, and they have two guys who absolutely wanted the ball in their hands and are tough with the ball, you can’t turn a team like that over too much. That’s what we tried to do early and I think we were a little over-aggressive and gave them some open looks,” Williams said. “We actually thought that backing off a little bit was going to help us in the long run. That was the change we made.” Williams said that his players know what the task at hand is, and getting off to a good start this season is proving they can be successful with their brand of basketball. 
Drew Dalzell carries the tournament championship trophy. Dalzell scored a team-high 19 points on Sunday, including 5 3-pointers. “If we’re not hitting some threes and can’t get it to Jake at the high post and Dean down low, we’re not going anywhere. So instead of trying to create some new, complicated thing, we have to get better at what it is we know how to do,” Williams said. For the players, it’s nice to be able to gain some confidence heading into the meat of the Cape-Atlantic League schedule in January, Dalzell said. “It’s the first time we’ve won a championship together, so that’s a good feeling,” Dalzell said. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Mainland’s formula for success on display in Mustang Invitational championship game
