Photo by Lacey Barke Marshall’s Nick Klaith drives past a Jackson County Central defender during their game on Tuesday. The Tigers defeated the Huskies 91-60.

MARSHALL– Thanks to a strong start, the Marshall boys basketball team cruised to a convincing 91-60 victory over Jackson County Central on Tuesday night at Marshall High School.

The Tigers looked to be the more athletic team in the beginning stages, as they opened the game with a 9-0 lead initiated by a 3-pointer from Trey Lance. Marshall used its size and intensity to intimidate the Huskies on defense with sideline traps, where they were able to strip the ball from Jackson County Central multiple times to regain possession. On the other side of the court, the Tigers attacked the hoop aggressively and found easy opportunities inside the paint over the JCC defenders to add to their lead. Marshall started to struggle with passes towards the eight minute mark, but made up for it quickly as they remained dominant over the Huskies heading into halftime with a 47-34 advantage.

Marshall head coach Travis Carroll mentioned how his team came out with a strong offensive effort and picked up the slack on defense in the second half. “We were able to get an early lead and some momentum on our side,” he said. “We were able to knock some shots down on offense, but there were some lapses on defense. Defensively, we are trying to do some different things and at times it looked sloppy. The second half we were able to do a little better. The guys are doing a better job working as a team offensively.”

JCC had harder drives to the basket in the second half, but the Tigers managed to keep the Huskies in check when they were looking to score in the paint. Marshall showed slight improvement with its perimeter defense, but that factor continued to be a problem for Marshall as JCC connected on a total of eight 3-pointers, with three of them coming from the second half. Despite this, the Tigers found themselves with a large lead over the Huskies at 86-54 after a shot from sophomore Konnor Aufenthie with four minutes remaining in the game. Marshall let the Huskies back into the game a little bit towards the closing minutes of the game, but finished strong with their last shot coming from Spencer Ehlers to bring the final score to 91-60.

Leading Marshall in overall points was Trey Lance, who racked up a total of 18 with teammate Bryce Paulsen finishing just one point shy of Lance’s effort. Noah Puetz had 13 points while Jake Hess pitched in 12. Trey Lance was 3 of 5 on his 3-point shots while teammates Puetz, Nick Klaith, Matt Hmielewski and Paulsen contributed one point each. Lance also led the way for the Tigers in assists with five while Klaith and Trey Steinbach had four each.

Marshall (4-0) will face Mankato West on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

JCC 34 26 — 60

Marshall 47 44 — 91

MARSHALL: Puetz 5-6 2-4 13, Klaith 2-5 0-2 5, Steinbach 1-2 0-0 2, T. Lance 7-10 1-2 18, Hmielewski 1-2 1-1 3, Allex 2-3 1-2 5, Paulsen 7-9 2-2 17, Ehlers 1-2 0-0 2, Hess 6-8 0-0 12, Onken 5-6 1-1 11, Bennett 1-2 0-0 2, Pruzzynski 0-1 1-2 1. TOTALS: 38-62 8-15 91.

3-POINTERS: Marshall 7-18 (T. Lance 3-5, Puetz 1-2, Klaith 1-4, Hmielewski 1-1, Paulsen 1-2). REBOUNDS: 31 (Onken 7). ASSISTS: 24 (T. Lance 5). STEALS: 18 (T. Lance 4). BLOCKS: 3 (Lance 3). FOULS: 18 (None). TURNOVERS: 8.