Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Andrew Elton looks for an open teammate during their game against JCC on Tuesday. Marshall defeated JCC 80-39.

MARSHALL — After relying on some stifling defensive play in its past couple of games, the Marshall boys basketball team used an offensive onslaught on Tuesday against Jackson County Central, as MHS earned an 80-39 victory.

Marshall coach Travis Carroll said he was pleased with how his team was able to improve on some things throughout the first half and use it to gain momentum the rest of the game.

“I’m proud of the kids and it was good to work through some things in the first half and we were able to get a good run towards the end of the first half and be able to go into halftime with a good lead,” Carroll said. “In the second half the kids came out right away and played with good energy; it was fun to get everyone in the game, each of those 18 kids practice with us each day and it’s great when we can have games where we can get everyone in the game and everyone can contribute to the game.”

Marshall jumped out to an early lead, going on a 7-0 run before Salman Osman connected on a 3-pointer to give MHS a double-digit advantage at 12-2 with 14:22 left in the first half. JCC would get a layup to draw the deficit to eight at 18-10 with 11:10 left, but a Noah Wilts 3-pointer and a Cayden Werner layup put Marshall back up double digits at 23-11 with 7:32 left. The two teams traded points the rest of the first half, but Marshall maintained its advantage, as another Wilts 3-pointer made it 28-14 with 4:30 left before a 7-3 run by MHS pushed the lead to 35-17 with 1:46 left and Marshall took a 39-23 lead going into halftime.

Marshall continued to create separation to start the second half, as Andrew Elton got a layup before Tyler Maeyaert connected on a 3-pointer to make it 57-30 with 12 minutes left. MHS kept attacking, as a Caden Fenger layup and a Wilts 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 68-37 with five minutes left and Marshall never let it get under 31 the rest of the way en route to the 80-39 final.

Wilts and Fenger led Marshall with 13 points each while Elton added 11 and Charlie Jacobson had 10. Jacobson led in rebounds with nine while Wilts led in assists with seven. As a team, Marshall shot 54.5% (32 of 67) from the field, including 9 of 16 (56.2%) from 3-point range.

Carroll said offensively, they did a good job of moving the basketball and getting quality scoring chances both in the paint and around the perimeter.

“We did a really good job of moving the basketball and getting some good action to the basket, getting some paint touches and making some open perimeter shots,” Carroll said. “We had some good rhythm in the second half of running through our offense and creating open looks and making open shots.”

Defensively, Marshall limited JCC to just 29.4% shooting (15 of 51), including 3 of 13 (23.1%) from 3-point range and forced 13 turnovers.

Up next

Marshall (9-3) will hit the road, taking on Mankato West on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Carroll said they need to keep improving as a group each day and knows it’ll be a challenging, but important matchup for them on Thursday.

“We just need to continue to try and get better each day. We made a good step last Friday against Pipestone Area and winning that game and the kids did a good job of coming back on Monday and having a good practice and they turned that into another good performance here,” Carroll said. “Hopefully we can come back and have a good practice [today] and obviously Mankato West is one of the top teams in the section and the state, but I think the kids and coaches will be excited to use this game as a measuring stick to see where we’re at this time of the year. It’s January right now and we’ve got a long ways to go to March but it’s good to play teams like Mankato West this time of year to see areas to improve on and areas to keep building on as we move forward.”

Marshall 80, JCC 39

JCC 23 16 – 39

Marshall 39 41 – 80

Scoring: Marshall (Wilts 5-10, 0-0 13; Fenger 4-6, 4-6 13; Elton 5-7, 0-0 11; Jacobson 5-8, 0-2 10; Werner 3-4, 3-3 9; Maeyaert 2-6, 0-0 6; Graven 2-2, 0-1 4; Osman 1-3, 0-0 3; Vierstraete 1-3, 0-0 3; Baynard 1-2, 0-0 2; Nwakama 1-1, 0-1 2; Paulsen 1-3, 0-2 2; Rowe 1-1, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 47 (Jacobson 9; Werner 6; Elton, Wilts 5).

Assists: Marshall 21 (Wilts 7; Vierstraete 3).

Steals: Marshall none.