Photo by Brennen Rupp Marshall’s Trey Lance puts up a shot during their game against Redwood Valley on Tuesday. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 80-53.

MARSHALL – The opening stages of the game between Marshall and Redwood Valley had the makings of a back and forth game. The Tigers held a slim 18-16 lead before closing out the half by outscoring the Cardinals 20-10 to take a 38-26 lead into the locker room. That strong finish carried over into the second half as the Tigers ran away from the Cardinals 80-53 to pick up their fourth straight win.

“We were able to build some confidence in our offense in the second half,” Marshall coach Travis Carroll said. “It looked like we were playing with more confidence. We got some good inside out action. The guys did a nice job of working together.”

With the game tied at 4-4, Marshall’s Trey Lance gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 6-4. A Lance 3-pointer put the Tigers up 9-6.

With the Tigers holding a 13-10 lead Carroll called a timeout. Marshall’s head coach said his team’s energy level was not where it needed to be to start the game.

“To begin the game it didn’t feel like we had the energy,” Carroll said. “The kids were able to turn it around a little bit at the end of the first half. It seemed like our press turned into offense for Redwood Valley. As we got into the second half we got more turnovers off our press and that turned into some transition points for us.”

A 16-3 Marshall run gave the Tigers a 34-19 lead. Lance said energy was the biggest reason why the Tigers were able to pull away from the Cardinals.

“Energy was the biggest difference,” Lance said. “We didn’t come out focused. We just came out flat. We didn’t get flow going. Once the energy picked up we got a lot more tips and steals.”

Jake Hess opened the scoring in the second half to extend Marshall’s lead to 40-26. A Lance 3-pointer put Marshall up 45-28. Hess converted a 3-point player to put Marshall up 50-30. Lance followed Hess’s 3-point play with a 3-point play of his own to give Marshall a 53-30 lead.

Nick Klaith knocked down a 3-pointer to give Marshall a commanding 71-42 lead. With five minutes left in the game Carroll started to empty the bench with the Tigers holding a 73-47 lead.

Lance finished the game with 32 points and seven rebounds. The senior guard said his teammates did a great job of setting him up for easy looks.

“My teammates did a nice job of getting me open looks,” Lance said. “They shared the basketball really well. We attacked them in transition. Everybody ran the floor well and we were able to get stops on defense. All I really did was shoot open layups.”

Matthew Onken finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds. Hess finished the game with 12 points.

With the victory the Tigers improved to 13-3 overall. They’ll be back in action on Thursday against Luverne.

“We need to bring the energy and the effort right away,” Carroll said. “We need carry that over for the entire game.”

RV 26 27 53

MARSHALL 38 42 80

SCORING: Marshall (Lance 32; Onken 14; Hess 12; Klaith 5).

REBOUNDING: Marshall (Onken 9; Lance 7).

ASSISTS: Marshall (Lance 5; Puetz 4).

STEALS: Marshall (Lance 3).

TURNOVERS: Marshall 12