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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Tigers offense guides itself to rout over Pipestone Area

Photo by Emily Daniels Marshall’s Matthew Onken puts up a reverse layup during their game against Pipestone Area on Monday. The Tigers defeated the Arrows 71-36.

MARSHALL – Big point runs in both halves for the Tigers proved to be the deciding factor as they came out with a 71-36 win over the Pipestone Area Arrows. Marshall showed its strengths on the court on both ends, finding themselves falling behind only once early on in the first. A few key plays and a lot of teamwork was the driving point to the teams success Monday night.

There were a lot of positive things that Marshall coach Travis Carroll saw from the team coming off the win against Pipestone and looks forward to some of the improvements they can make going into the last few games of the regular season.

“We did a better job rebounding, at the end of the game we had a hard time getting those offensive rebounds. As we moved forward we were able to get more of those rebounds in the second half and the guys also did a much better job of taking care of the basketball,” said Carroll. “We need to be ready to go going in to the last few games of the season, we haven’t been able to get off to a really good start the first five to seven minutes of the game and hopefully we can improve on that going into Saturday’s game.”

The Tigers and the Arrows got the night started out with fast back and forth action on the scoreboard. Marshall was first to put points on the board and take the lead as the Arrows followed and came back to tie it up at 4-4 with 15:02 left to play in the first. The Tigers defense put pressure on the Arrows offense right off the bat, making it difficult for Pipestone to find its way down the court fast and efficiently. Matt Onken’s shining night started early in the first, with strong rebounds on defense and big points on offense for the Tigers. Marshall found themselves falling behind the Arrows just once during the night but quickly took back the lead at 8-6. The Tigers offense showed big strengths with their passes and plays that brought them to a six-point lead at 17-11 with 9:23 left on the clock. Never looking back, the Tigers continued to fight their battle on offense and dominate the court. Marshall found themselves out of sync with a few miscommunicated passes that caused multiple turnovers but with back-to-back baskets from Bryce Paulsen, it found themselves back on the right track to take a double-digit lead at 23-13 with 5:23 left in the first. Pipestone’s weaknesses on offense became one of the Tigers strengths as they read their plays and took multiple fast breaks throughout the entirety of the half as Marshall held on to its 35-19 lead going into halftime.

The Tigers offense didn’t slow down as the second half started, continuing to dominate the floor right away. Marshall went on a 15-point run before the Arrows could find the basket, giving the Tigers a 50-21 lead with 11:48 left on the clock. Marshall’s strong rebounding was key for them on both sides of the court, helping them maintain control of the possession clock. Much like the first half Onken saw a strong start on offense for the Tigers contributing four more points right off the bat to help add to the run Marshall saw. The Tigers continued to move the ball fast and aggressive on offense which kept the Arrows on their feet at all times on defense. Marshall’s defense continued to stifle the Arrows on their own possessions during the second half but Pipestone was able to find a little success through the free-throw line.

The Arrows offense started to pick up over the next few minutes and they started to find the openings that they needed, but still found themselves in a large deficit at 59-26 with 7:26 left. As the clock continued to count down, the Tigers offense didn’t stop their strengths and continued to show their dominance on the court which led them to a 71-36 win over Pipestone.

Onken led the Tigers with 20 points followed by Paulsen with 11 and Noah Puetz adding six. Trey Lance finished the night with four assists with Jake Hess and Nick Klaith adding three each. The Tigers shot 29 of 56 for total shots and 13 of 16 at the free-throw line.

There was a lot of teamwork happening in last night’s game and Paulsen saw the boys playing for each other and looks forward to reaching their goals the last few regular season games.

“I thought we passed the ball well in transition, which opened up a lot of easy layups for us and that helped our team chemistry out on the court. Mental toughness in tonights game was key, knowing that there’s something there bigger to play for than winning,” said Paulsen. “We want to finish enjoying all the opportunities we get and hopefully make a run again at state this year.”

The Tigers will be back in action at home on Saturday at 2 pm against Faribault.

Pipestone 19 17 — 36

Marshall 35 36 — 71

MARSHALL: Puetz 2-5 2-2 6, B. Lance 1-1 0-0 2, Steinbach 1-3 0-1 2, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, T. Lance 2-10 1-1 5, Hmielewski 1-2 0-0 2, Allex 2-3 0-0 4, Paulsen 5-6 1-2 11, Aufenthie 1-1 0-0 2, Hess 1-2 3-3 5, Onken 8-12 4-4 20, Bennett 1-3 0-0 2, Black 2-2 0-1 4, Pruszynski 1-2 2-2 4. TOTALS: 29-56 13-16 71.

3-POINTERS: 0-7. REBOUNDS: 36 (Paulsen 6, Onken 6). ASSISTS: 18 (T. Lance 4). STEALS: 11 (T. Lance 2, Allex 2). BLOCKS: 0. FOULS: 13. TURNOVERS: 9.

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