Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Trey Steinbach looks to drive past a Willmar defender during their game on Monday. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 55-52.

MARSHALL – Going into their regular season finale, the Marshall boys basketball team looked to continue its red-hot end to its schedule as the Tigers entered Monday’s game against Willmar with an 11-game win streak.

The Cardinals, however, had other plans, as Willmar took it down to the wire with a back-and-forth battle, but the Tigers were able to survive in the final seconds with a 55-52 victory.

With Marshall holding a 47-42 lead with three minutes left, the Cardinals were able to cut it to just five, but a 3-pointer from Noah Puetz on the ensuing Tigers possession quickly pushed Marshall’s advantage back up to eight with under two to play.

Willmar wouldn’t go away, however, as a 3-pointer from the Cardinals made it a three-point game at 53-50 with a minute left. After a missed free throw by the Tigers, Willmar had an opportunity to draw even closer, but a key steal from Camryn Allex with 20 seconds left gave the Tigers the ball back.

Marshall would then go down and get a free throw from Bryce Lance to extend its lead to four, before a layup from Willmar cut the deficit to just two at 54-52 with 12 seconds left. After Bryce Paulsen drew a foul and connected on a free throw to give the Tigers a three-point lead with 6.8 seconds remaining, the Cardinals had a pair of chances to force overtime, but couldn’t capitalize, as Marshall would hold on for the 55-52 victory.

Marshall coach Travis Carroll credited Willmar for bringing the effort and intensity that his team lacked throughout the majority of the game and added that it’s a great learning moment for their group as they head towards the postseason.

“Give Willmar credit, I thought they did a great job of coming out and were ready to go and kind of put it to us to begin the game. I thought they put forth a great effort; we didn’t feel we matched their effort and it seemed like they were the team playing harder between the two teams. I think you can look at the rebounding category as a true example of the effort because they beat us pretty good on the boards,” Carroll said. “Focus-wise we could’ve come in with a better focus into the game and understand what we were trying to do on the offensive and defensive end of the floor. Communication on defense wasn’t where it needed to be and we didn’t do a good enough job of getting to where we needed to be on the defensive end of the floor by communicating with our teammates and it’s something that we definitely need to learn moving forward because we’re going to have some very tough games coming up in the section tournament. This is a lesson learned that we need to have improvement in those areas if we’re going to have success in the section tournament.”

Overcoming a slow start

Both teams looked to gain momentum early, but it was Willmar who set the tone on offense to start, taking a 6-4 lead before pushing its advantage to 12-6 with 11 minutes left in the first half. That’s when the Cardinals took control of the pace, capitalizing on a string of Marshall miscues to boost their lead to double digits before later extending it to as many as 18-6.

Marshall, meanwhile, was still in search of a basket during the middle portion of the first half, before a jumper from Puetz stopped a 14-2 run by Willmar and nearly a six and a half-minute scoreless stretch for the Tigers.

Carroll said their biggest adjustment during the first half was just trying to get their players a push in the right direction on both ends of the floor.

“We were just trying give the kids a jump start, trying to find a way to get them some confidence and get going,” Carroll said. “We really just struggled as coaches to get our kids going and we tried to use a couple of timeouts to try and get what was needed to be done on the offensive and defensive end of the floor.”

After Yayha Black added a floater to cut the deficit to single digits at 18-10 with 4:30 left, the Tigers slowly began to climb their way back into the game. Marshall would eventually get to within five at 25-20 with 30 seconds left before the Cardinals took a seven-point advantage going into the locker rooms.

Second-half survival

Going into the second half, the Tigers knew they had to putting together a strong frame in order to end the regular season on a high note. Both teams would trade points in the opening minutes of the frame, as Marshall was able to cut the deficit to within three on a Paulsen jumper before a 3-pointer from Spencer Ehlers tied things up at 29-29 with 14:17 left. Marshall would then take the lead a few minutes later thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Matt Hmielewski and Josh Baker to make it 39-36 with 8:39 to go.

The two teams would continue to keep it close over the next several minutes, as neither side would hold a lead larger than three points. Offensive rebounding and second-chance opportunities were a key for the Cardinals in staying within striking distance, something that Marshall struggled to control throughout the game, as Willmar outrebounded the Tigers 30-24 on the game.

Despite Willmar continuing to attack in the paint, the Tigers were able to hold on to their slim lead, before a 3-pointer from Paulsen made it a five-point game to set the stage for the final few minutes.

Peutz led the way for the Tigers with 13 points while Paulsen added nine and Lance had seven. Black led in rebounds with five while Lance led in assists with three.

Celebrating the seniors

Before their game on Monday, the Tigers celebrated their senior class. This year’s senior class includes Matt Onken, Ehlers, Paulsen and Allex as well as in memory of Carter Boerboom, who would’ve been a senior this year. Boerboom passed away in 2015 after a long and courageous battle with Ewings Sarcoma.

Up next

Marshall heads into the postseason with an overall record of 21-5 and will find out their Section 2AAA opponent next weekend. Carroll said their biggest takeaway is that they have the ability to compete with the best teams but also could see an early exit if they don’t bring the necessary level of effort with each game they play.

“I think we learned the other night that we can play with the best teams that we could face in our section and we also learned that we can lose on any given night if we don’t bring the proper type of effort, focus and communication to the game,” Carroll said. “There are very good teams in the section regardless of what round you play in and each round that we play in, we’re going to have to bring a different type of mindset than the one we brought (Monday).”