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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Dazzling second-half defense keeps Windom Area at bay as Marshall rolls past Eagles for 90-44 victory

Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Matt Onken (34), Bryce Paulsen (21) and Bryce Lance (10) guard a Windom Area opponent during their game on Saturday. The Tigers defeated the Eagles 90-44.

MARSHALL – After a tight start to their game against Windom Area, the Marshall boys basketball team needed a spark if they were going to emerge victorious in their Big South Conference clash. The Tigers found its wake-up call midway through the first half and quickly took control, building a double-digit halftime lead before rolling to a 90-44 victory over the Eagles on Saturday.

Marshall coach Travis Carroll said it took some time for their team to get into a rhythm, but they were able to do a good job of adjusting to what Windom Area presented as the game went on.

“Coming into the game, we understood that Windom liked to try to get shots behind the 3-point line. Sometimes you have to get into those situations before the kids realize that’s what they’re going to do and I thought Windom really came out and ran offensively what they were trying to do. They hit some open looks behind the 3-point line,” Carroll said. “We tried to make some adjustments midway through the first half and tried to do a better job of defending the 3-point line. It was good to get to halftime and work with the kids a little bit more on what we needed to do defensively because in the second half we came out with a much better effort defensively, particularly behind the 3-point line with contesting their shots and not giving them open looks.”

Midway run

After earning a strong victory over Jackson County Central to start its week, the Tigers were hoping to get out to a strong start against Windom Area. The Eagles had other ideas, however, taking an early 5-2 lead and would keep the margin to within a few points over the first couple of minutes to start the game.

Then near the midway point of the opening half, the Tigers began to pick up the pace on offense, finding their success through strong looks into the paint. A Bryce Lance layup gave Marshall its first double-digit lead of the evening at 24-13 with 9:33 left before a 3-point play from Trey Steinbach made it 37-23 with four minutes to go. Marshall’s offense continued to stay strong to close out the half, as another layup by Lance gave Marshall a 20-point advantage at 43-23 before the Tigers wrapped up the opening 18 minutes of play with an 8-0 run to take a 58-30 lead going into the locker rooms.

Dialing up

the defense

Despite holding a sizeable lead to start the second half, Marshall wanted to clean some things up on the defensive end after Windom Area got into an offensive groove from beyond the perimeter. The Tigers took that challenge and ran with it, shutting down the Eagles offense and holding Windom Area to just 14 second-half points.

Carroll said in the first half they allowed Windom to get easy drives to the basket but in the second half they were able to force the Eagles into tough situations on similar plays.

“Just contesting those shots and looking to make them drivers toward the basket and staying with them on the drive,” Carroll said. “The first half when they drove to the basket, they were beating us to the rim and making layups but in the second half when they went to the basket we stayed with them and either forced them into a tough pass or into a tough shot.”

Marshall’s stifling defense quickly translated into scoring bursts in the second half, as the Tigers shot out of the gates with a 14-0 run to start the frame and take a 72-30 lead with 12 minutes left. The Tigers would then maintain at least a 40-point lead the rest of the way as Marshall took home the 90-44 victory.

Matt Onken led the way for the Tigers with 23 points while Matt Hmielewski added 13 and Yahya Black, Peyton Grant and Bryce Lance had eight. Bryce Paulsen led in rebounds with seven while Camryn Allex led in assists with six. As a team, Marshall connected on 62.5 percent of its shots from the field (40 of 64), including 40 percent (4 of 10) from beyond the arc.

Onken said their key on offense was working the ball to the post and drawing defenders

“The post was flashing the ball and against their 1-3-1 zone we flashed to the open spots,” Onken said. “When we got the ball if it didn’t come with a double team, we looked to score and if it did we found the open cutters.”

Defensively, the Tigers held the Eagles to just 31.2 percent shooting (15 of 48) from the floor.

Marshall (11-5) will face Redwood Valley on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Carroll said they need to come out with a better start than they did against the Eagles.

“We need to come out ready to play better than what we did,” Carroll said. “It took us about seven minutes into the game before we started turning the corner, so we’ve got to be ready right out of the gate Tuesday because Redwood has a very good basketball team.”

Marshall 90, Windom Area 44

Windom Area 30 14 – 44

Marshall 58 32 – 90

SCORING: Marshall (Onken 10-12, 2-3 23; Hmielewski 5-8, 1-1 13; Black 4-5, 0-0 8; Grant 3-3, 2-2 8; Lance 4-5, 0-0 8; Steinbach 3-6, 1-1 7; Ehlers 3-6, 0-0 7; Allex 3-4, 0-0 6; Baker 2-7, 0-0 4; Hilgemann 1-1, 0-0 2; Paulsen 1-2, 0-0 2; Pochardt 1-1, 0-0 2).

REBOUNDS: Marshall 37 (Paulsen 7; Black 6; Steinbach 5; Grant 4; Ehlers, Allex, Lance, Runia 3).

ASSISTS: Marshall 16 (Allex 6; Ehlers, Paulsen, Steinbach 2).

STEALS: Marshall 10 (Baker, Lance, Steinbach 2).

BLOCKS: Marshall none.

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