Mitch Rueter again led the way for the Mustangs with a weekend-high 51 points.
The Maitland Mustangs have made it back-to-back wins in their double header weekend at the Maitland Federation Centre in round 10 of the Waratah Championship League.
On Saturday night the Mustangs saw off the Hills Hornets (82-75) before backing up on Sunday afternoon to beat the Sutherland Sharks (66-63) in a nail biter.
The results were a much needed tonic after last weekend’s shock loss to last placed Parramatta and now sees the Mustangs firmly entrenched in the play-offs picture after knocking off the sixth placed Hornets and the tenth placed Sharks.
Mitch Rueter was among the Mustangs best over the weekend with a total of 51 points and 17 rebounds, while Kieran Gleeson also impressed scoring 28 points and claiming 20 rebounds.
Coach Luke Boyle was happy with the back to back wins and the effort of his side over the two days.
“Definitely happy, it was good to get a couple of wins, we’re halfway through the season now and we’re going along ok,” Boyle said.
“We were better than last week, we were pretty tight.
“Sunday the guys were a bit tired, we were playing against a younger team with energy and that didn’t work in our favour but we still won the game.”
Boyle was quick to praise Rueter who has consistently been a standout for the Mustangs so far in 2012.
“Mitch was great again, I think he almost averaged a double double for both games and got a few assists as well,” Boyle said.
“He put on a good show for his brother who is out visiting from America.
“Kieran Gleeson was great as well, he’s tough inside and hard for them to stop and usually he’s there cleaning up after his team mates.”
Boyle was happy with the improvement of his side though maintained there was still work to be done.
“There were a couple of patches in both games where we dropped off a bit, the good thing is we haven’t played to our potential yet and we’re still third,” Boyle said.
“So hopefully we can get it right and go on a bit of a streak because at the moment we seem to be getting to three wins and then losing.
“But if we can win again next week that puts us in a good position when we play Sydney away the week after.”
The Mustangs will look to continue their push up the ladder when they host the Central Coast Crusaders at the Maitland Federation Centre next Saturday night.