Photo by Emily Daniels Marshall’s Trey Lance drives the lane during their game against Mankato West on Thursday. The Tigers defeated the Scarlets 57-48.

MARSHALL – After a tightly contested first half, it was a steady stream of offense in the second half that proved to be the difference for the Marshall boys basketball team as the Tigers earned a big 57-48 win over Mankato West Thursday night.

Senior Trey Lance knew that his team was going to have to put up a big fight if they wanted to go home with a win, and saw a lot of impressive work on both ends from his teammates.

“We knew that they were a tough team, our goal coming into the game was to press them immediately to get them tired and make them run the floor offensively. I thought we did a good job doing those things,” said Lance.

The opening tip was just the start of an aggressive and fast-paced night for the Tigers. Marshall took the lead very early in the first half, before Mankato West fought back to bring the score to an 8-8 tie. The Tigers offense started to come alive after Nick Klaith just missed the basket on a fast break opportunity but his teammate Lance was right there behind him to grab the rebound and put it right back up. That was just the beginning for Lance, who immediately stole the inbounds pass away from the Scarlets and scored on a layup plus the foul for the 3-point play, giving the Tigers up with a little lead at 22-17.

Lance’s offensive efforts set the pace for Marshall, as they continued to play fast, controlled and aggressive. As the final minutes of the first half went by, the Tigers’ steady offense and defense gave them a 31-25 lead over Mankato West at halftime.

Teamwork was a huge asset in the game, and Lance knew they could come out with the win if they worked together.

“Teamwork was huge. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half and not as many assists as we needed, which is one of the things we looked at going into the second half. We got better as a team going into the second half,” said Lance.

Coming into the second half the lead didn’t get into Marshall’s head, as they came out and played the game the way they knew how. Mankato West found its opportunity to make moves on offense thanks to a few mistakes made by the Tigers defense. The Scarlets were able to bring the score to a two-point gap with Marshall still leading, 35-33. The Tigers slowed down their offense and looked for the best shot opportunities they could get. Bryce Paulsen’s contributions gave the Tigers offense what they were looking for, as they started coming back together and finding their groove. They picked up the pace on offense shortly after, moving the ball faster giving the Scarlets limited opportunities to score. With just a few minutes left to play, the Tigers held the lead at 48-34 despite committing some unnecessary fouls on defense. Despite the few mistakes, it was the Tigers’ strong offense that brought them to a win over Mankato West, 57-48.

Marshall coach Travis Carroll saw the importance of defense coming into the game and saw good work from the boys as they performed the way the way he wanted them to.

“It was very important tonight that we limited them to one shot, boxing out and rebounding on the defensive end was key for us to win the game,” said Carroll. “The other team definitely had the size advantage but our guys did a great job under the basket and holding them on the defensive end of the floor.”

Lance led the Tigers with 25 points followed by teammate Matt Onken with 10. Marshall saw 10 assists, with Andrew Bennett, Paulsen and Noah Puetz contributing two each. The Tigers shot 22 of 54 overall and 9 of 13 at the free-throw line.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday at home against Orono at 5 p.m.

Going forward into their next games Carroll wants the team to take away the strengths that they showed on defense and know that they can rebound under the basket against any team.

“We can take away that we have the ability to rebound with anybody and offensively we can take away that we need to do a better job of doing our job on offense and taking care of the basketball and continue to tackle the rim,” said Carroll.

West 25 23 – 48

Marshall 31 26 – 57

MARSHALL: Puetz 1-2 0-0 3, Klaith 1-5 0-0 3, Lance 8-21 7-8 25, Allex 1-2 0-0 2, Paulsen 3-6 2-4 8, Hess 2-6 0-0 4, Onken 5-11 0-0 10, Bennett 1-1 0-1 2. TOTALS: 22-54 9-13 57.

3-POINTERS: 4-9 (T. Lance 2-5, Puetz 1-1, Klaith 1-2). REBOUNDS: 47 (Onken 13). ASSISTS: 10 (Three with 2). STEALS: 8 (T. Lance 4). BLOCKS: 3 (Onken 2). FOULS: 14 (None). TURNOVERS: 11.