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PSA still
ranked #1
Last March the Putnam Science Academy Prep Mustangs captured their first National Prep Championship with a hard fought victory over Northfield Mount Hermon. Since then former Mustangs have gone onto to play college ball and a new wave of student athletes arrived at PSA looking to pull off the repeat.
So far, so good.
The Mustangs have won 42 straight headed into the winter break and remain ranked #1 in the country according to multiple prep basketball rankings including Prep Circuit’s recently updated rankings for December.
With newcomers like Wichita State commit Tyson Etienne, big man and Texas Tech commit Russel Tchewa and knock down shooter John Buggs III, who recently committed to UMass, the Mustangs have the depth and skill to bring home another National Prep Championship.
Head Coach Tom Espinosa, who picked up win #300 before the break improving his record at PSA to 300-73, has defined this year’s team simply with depth and athleticism. “We have a ton of depth; we can run 8 to 12 guys at teams and it’s something I don’t take for granted.”
A big help for this Mustang team has been leadership brought by a few returnees from last year’s championship team in guards Hassan Diarra and Demarr Langford. “We experienced winning it all last year and that was an amazing feeling but we’re not done” Diarra said with emphasis. “People wrote us off at the beginning of the year because of the pieces we lost last year but we can get it done man, we are a talented group and truly believe in what coach (Espinosa) preaches.”
The voice that has been heard the most from a player has actually been first-year guard at PSA Tyson Etienne. Etienne made a splash at the start of the season helping PSA grind out a nail biter in New Haven at the National Prep Showcase with an 85-82 overtime victory over Sunrise Christian Academy, who at the time were ranked #4 in the country. The versatile guard went on a 7-0 run by himself in the second half when PSA was trailing knocking down contested shots and getting to the basket at will.
Following a win at home versus Navy Prep, Etienne was named The Mustang Player of the Game. During the postgame interview, Tyson talked about the team going into the break surprisingly saying “I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball yet. That’s the scary thing.”
The Mustangs were 18-0 at the time.
“We still make little mistakes here and there but once we all get on the same page and get locked in, we are going to be one tough team to beat.” Etienne added: “When teams play us, they bring their best and we know this but we are just getting started. There’s a lot of talent on this team and I expect us to make more noise in the second half of the season.”
The Mustangs return from break and will host Redemption Christian Academy and Upperroom Christian Academy before going on the road for a tough test against Cushing Academy.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy