Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Cooper Mensink dribbles the basketball up the court in the first half against Tea Area (S.D.) at the Fastbreak Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University Monday night. The Tigers defeated the Titans in a comeback victory 58-56 behind Mensink's 21 points.

MARSHALL — After cleaning up turnovers and facing an 8-point halftime deficit, the Marshall boys basketball team overcame Tea Area (S.D.) for a 58-56 comeback victory Monday night on the first day of the Fastbreak Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University, powered behind Cooper Mensink’s 21 points.

In the final two seconds, Jack Meier grabbed a game-saving offensive rebound off a missed free throw which allowed time to run out and prevent the Titans from calling a timeout to set up a final play.

“This [game] was crazy. It was our first time being down going into halftime this year, so it was good to see the guys come out and not lose focus,” Mensink said. “It was good for us to come out with that fight to win against a good basketball team.”

In addition to Mensink, who shot a team-high 4 for 10 at the 3-point line, Jayden Meister followed with 15 points and led with eight rebounds, and Alex Franson added 10 points and team-best three steals.

Marshall overall shot 49% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and just 35% from the free throw line, going 6 for 17. The Titans shot a 41-12.5-100 splits.

The Tigers trailed by 8 points at halftime when Mensink and Meister continued with their hot-hands to get Marshall back in the game. After Mensink nailed a jump shot off the right block and a 3-pointer from the left wing, Meister hit a mid-range jumper to bring the Tigers within 4 points, 47-43.

Tensions heated up once Levi Maeyaert made the go-ahead layup to tie the game up at 50, and Mensink made the field goal on the next possession after solid ball movement to give Marshall back its lead.

With a minute to go and Marshall up by a point after another Mensink 3-pointer, Franson hit a crucial jumper in the lane to put the Tigers up 57-54 with 46 seconds left.

Tea returned the field goal to bring the game back within a point, and put Franson at the charity stripe after fouling him on the press.

Franson missed the free throw, but a loose ball shaved off about 10 seconds of the clock before a jump ball could be called and Marshall kept the 57-56 edge with 5.2 seconds left.

Off the Tigers inbound play, Franson took a couple dribbles before getting fouled to take three more seconds off. He made one of the free throws and Meier grabbed the offensive rebound to seal the comeback victory for Marshall.

“That [last minute] was crazy, there was a lot going on,” Mensink said. “The plays that coach drew up for us worked, and we came off with the win.”

Tea’s defensive momentum stayed prominent throughout the game and Marshall struggled to find any answer to, until the Tigers began to limit its turnovers midway through the second half to pull themselves back into the game.

Marshall finished with 11 turnovers, most of which all came in the first half.

“We seemed to be very hurried with the basketball in our hands, where we just didn’t look very comfortable,” Marshall head coach Travis Carroll said. “Tea did a great job of executing, they were trying to pressure us and force us into some tough mistakes. It was good to regroup going into halftime and try to refocus on what needed to be better.”

Although Marshall took an early 10-2 lead with consistent perimeter shooting to begin the first half, Tea Area’s aggressive defense frustrated the Tigers and forced several turnovers, which allowed the Titans to eventually tie the game up and headed into halftime with its advantage.

At the half, Mensink led with 9 points behind two 3-pointers, Braxton Koster followed with 7 and Meister had 6.

Of Marshall’s first 13 points, 12 of them came from beyond the arc. Mensink knocked down two of the 3-pointers while Koster and Franson each hit another. Mensink attributed his early scoring to his teammates’ passing and screens.

Tea Area played a full-court press and oftentimes double-teamed Marshall at the corner baselines, where turnovers began to become apparent.

The Titans cut into a 16-12 trail after a Marshall travel call, and drilled in a 3 when Carroll called his first timeout.

After a few string of turnovers, an offensive board turned into a kickback to Meister at the top of the key who fed it to a cutting Koster.

The Titans tied the game at 18 and eventually took a lead with three steals in a row.

“We just lost focus a little bit,” Mensink said. “There was a lot of commotion going on, and we just started throwing the ball around, and not running our offense like we should have.”

But, Meister brought some spark back with a steal and dunk of his own, followed up immediately with an and-1 with the free throw to bring Marshall within a 26-24 deficit.

The half ended with another Titans steal after Marshall attempted to throw inside the lane, and next got a defensive rebound off a Koster free throw which resulted in an open field goal and the Tigers went into the locker room down 34-26.

Davion Xayarath grabbed two blocks on the same defensive possession early on in the second half to get the bench and fans excited, in an attempt to get Marshall on the right path.

The Tigers looked more put together coming back to the court by limiting their turnover mistakes and being more efficient with grabbing rebounds.

Marshall finished with 28 rebounds, six of which were defensive, to Tea’s 29 boards.

“We had to get back to Tiger basketball,” Carroll said regarding what the team spoke about at the break. “There wasn’t a lot we could draw up at halftime. It was just more about getting refocused and trying to get some good momentum going, because we didn’t have much good momentum towards the end of the first half.”

Marshall improves to 6-1 on the season. The Tigers have only dropped one game so far when they traveled to Mankato East on Dec. 12 and lost 80-45.

“We haven’t been in that situation yet this year,” Carroll said. “We were able to get some offensive rebounds and run the clock out. It was great that they [Titans] weren’t able to get a shot off.”

Marshall has a quick turnaround and will next play in the second day of the tournament today, when it takes on Jackson County Central, who is undefeated at 7-0, at 4:15 p.m. at SMSU’s R/A Facility.

“It’s going to be a whole different battle tomorrow,” Carroll said. “They’re [JCC] a very good basketball team. They’re going to present us with a lot of challenges. We need to focus on some things on the offense and defensive end to try to put ourselves in a better spot.”