PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Marshall uses second-half push to get past Luverne, 59-42
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MARSHALL -- After falling in a tight contest to Waseca Tuesday, the Marshall boys basketball team looked to bounce back into the win column on Thursday night against Luverne. Marshall did just that, overcoming a low-scoring offensive display with a second-half push to earn a 59-42 victory over the Cardinals.
Marshall coach Travis Carroll said his team was able to show a lot of resiliency, especially in the second half, against Luverne and felt they made some key adjustments at halftime.
"Our kids showed some good resiliency throughout that game. There were a lot of things that didn't go the way we were hoping in the first half and in the second half, the kids kept working and worked together really well in that stretch in the second where we were able to stretch the game out," Carroll said. "It was important for us to get to halftime, we had some struggles and we were fortunate to be ahead at halftime. Our assistant coaches made some good adjustments with our zone offense because Luverne was running their 2-3 zone and they were able to see some open things and we were able to execute those things in the second half."
Marshall got out to a quick start with five straight points from Bryce Lance, but Luverne answered with a 10-2 run before a jumper by the Cardinals made it 14-9 with 7:15 left in the first half. Both sides would struggle with turnovers in the first half, as the game remained a low-scoring, physical battle. Despite the deficit, Marshall continued to fight and got a jumper by Charlie Jacobson before a layup from Jack Bly put them back up by one at 15-14 with 3:45 to go. Marshall then made a late push sparked by a key 3-point play by Cayden Werner that put them up four with 1:45 left en route to taking a 21-16 lead into halftime.
The two sides traded points to begin the second half before Luverne got a layup to cut the deficit to two at 27-25 with 12:40 left. Marshall would have a timely response, however, using the press on the defensive end of the floor to force multiple Cardinal turnovers and get out in transition. A Noah Wilts layup and a Lance jumper highlighted a 9-2 run by Marshall before another basket by Josh Baker gave them their first double-digit advantage at 40-30 with 7:30 left.
Marshall would never give up the lead the rest of the way, as consecutive layups by Lance and Baker pushed the advantage to 53-38 with three minutes to go on its way to the 59-42 victory.
Lance led Marshall with 19 points while Baker added 12 and Bly had eight. Lance led in rebounds with six while Chase Douglas led in assists with four. As a team, Marshall shot 55.3% (26 of 47) from the field.
Defensively, Marshall held Luverne to 46.9% shooting (15 of 32) from the field, including just 1 of 7 from 3-point range and forced 18 turnovers. Carroll said they had to utilize their press in the second half and it helped lead to transition baskets on the other end of the floor and create some separation on offense.
"It was a night defensively where we had to run some pressure defense because Luverne does a great job with their five-out offense to where they're going to run their offense and get a good look," Carroll said. "By running the pressure defense, we're going to give up some open looks to them, however, we're going to have some opportunities to create some more tips and steals and those were a key factor for our success in the second half."
Up next
Marshall (4-1) will face Pipestone Area on the road on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. Carroll said they just need to continue to stay together as a team and improve each day going into the next stretch of their schedule.
"When things aren't going well, we can still stick together and find a way to get the win and that's going to be important," Carroll said. "We have to come back [today] and improve from where we were at here and continue to build that team; it's still early in the season and we have to continue to work together and find the positives and there were definitely some positives we can build on and things we can learn from."
Marshall 59, Luverne 42
Luverne 16 26 – 42
Marshall 21 38 – 59
Scoring: Marshall (Lance 8-14, 1-2 19; Baker 5-13, 1-2 12; Bly 4-4, 0-0 8; Jacobson 2-2, 1-3 5; Werner 2-3, 1-1 5; Runia 2-2, 0-2 4; Abdi 1-3, 0-0 2; Douglas 1-3, 0-0 2; Toulouse 1-1, 0-0 2).
Rebounds: Marshall 22 (Lance 6; Douglas, Jacobson, Runia 3).
Assists: Marshall 8 (Douglas 4; Baker, Lance, Runia, Wilts 1).
Steals: Marshall 22 (Baker 4; Bly, Lance, Runia 3).
Blocks: Marshall 3 (Baker 2; Jacobson 1).