Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Bryce Lance puts up a layup during their game against Watertown (S.D.) on Friday. The Tigers defeated the Arrows 63-39.

MARSHALL – The Marshall boys basketball team continued its run of stellar defensive performances on Friday to hold the visiting Watertown (S.D) Arrows to a 16-point second half in a decisive 63-39 victory. The win marks their third consecutive game of limiting opponents to under 50 points.

According to coach Travis Carroll, the team’s energy from the opening tip in conjunction with their discipline with the basketball were keys to their success.

“The guys had great energy,” said Carroll. “They’re defending at a high level, communicating on defense and they were pretty focused offensively. We didn’t have many turnovers. We did a great job of valuing the basketball.”

Early on in the contest the Tigers were forced to show their resiliency with the team’s leading scorer in Matt Onken going down with an injury that would force him to miss the remainder of the game. As a result, the team was forced to make adjustments to their rotations.

“It was an unfortunate situation and obviously we wish the best for Matt, and hopefully it’s something that he’s able to come back from,” said Carroll. “It’s not an easy situation for our team, but I’m very proud of the way the guys rallied behind Matt and obviously it effects how rotations go and who’s defending who on the defensive end of the floor.”

Already without another one of their key pieces of their team in Noah Peutz, the Tigers battled on and established the early momentum provided by consecutive baskets from Camryn Allex to take a 23-18 lead to force an Arrows timeout.

Before the buzzer, the Tigers received another offensive boost from Bryce Paulsen with eight points down the stretch to take a 31-23 lead into halftime.

In the second half, tone-setter Yahya Black provided the Tigers first two baskets and followed it up with a monster block on defense. Black, along with Trey Steinbach, provided Marshall with lock-down defensive efforts on the post to negate Watertown’s two big men.

“Their strength is their inside play and Yahya and Trey Steinbach and the rest of our team did a very good job of helping to defend their post players.”

Holding a 38-28 lead, the Tigers went on a dominant 22-6 scoring run that had the Arrows on their heels trailing 60-34. With the game in-hand, Marshall remained in control all the way to the final buzzer to win 63-39.

The Tigers finished the game with four players in double-figures as Allex, Josh Baker, and Black each scored 10 points while Paulsen led the way with 15. Bryce Lance added eight points to go along with a pair of assists. Black paced the team in rebounds with eight to go along with two blocks, and Steinbach led the team in assists with three on the night.

With the victory, Marshall moves to 12-5 on the year and will look to pick up their 13th win when they travel to Faribault on Saturday to take on the Falcons at 2 p.m.

In order to come out on top, Carroll believes his team will need to come out with the same energy level and intensity that defined their performance on Friday.

“Well it’s a quick turnaround,” said Carroll. “You gotta be humble after a game like tonight because we have a quick turnaround at Faribault. Faribault has a very good basketball team and they’re a team that we’re definitely competing with in the section in terms of the seeds so we have to have a short memory. We need to come back tomorrow and do the same things that we did.”