Photo by Jake McNeill: The Marshall boys basketball team's bench reacts to guard Davion Xayarath's go-ahead bucket during the Tigers' Big South Conference matchup against No. 7 St. Peter on Friday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — After battling through a strong stretch of opponents to start the new year, the Marshall boys basketball team picked up a big win over No. 7 St. Peter on Friday in Big South Conference play. The Tigers trailed by 5 points at halftime, but after 11 lead changes in the final 11 minutes, Marshall came away with the 63-57 victory.

“It shows that we’re one of those teams now, and that we can compete with every team,” Marshall forward Oliver Voigt said. “We’ve had a couple of tough losses, but we came back and worked hard in practice to beat those teams.”

Heading into Friday night, the Tigers had lost back-to-back games against ranked opponents, falling 82-69 to Class 2A No. 1 Belle Plaine on Dec. 31 and falling by a single point to South Dakota Class AA No. 6 Brandon Valley. Three of the Tigers’ four losses this year have come by one possession, but the team stayed locked in to finish on top of a back-and-forth game against top-tier competition this time around.

The Tigers trailed by a point with 90 seconds to play when they took control of the game. Voigt blocked a shot toward the backcourt, where Levi Maeyaert recovered the loose ball and assisted a Davion Xayarath go-ahead basket to give the Tigers a 57-56 edge.

Marshall never relinquished its lead from there. Voigt knocked down a floater to give the Tigers a 3-point lead. Ian Wills knocked down the front end of a 1-and-1 for the Saints, and Parker Maloney got the offensive rebound and was sent to the line for 1-and-1 after getting fouled. Yet, he missed the front end and the Tigers called a timeout leading by 2 points with 32.5 seconds to play.

After inbounding the ball from the sideline, Marshall found a cutting Xayarath down the baseline and he knocked down a layup through contact, as well as the ensuing free throw, to give Marshall a 5-point cushion. Another Tiger stop on the defensive end effectively iced the game, with Voigt knocking down one more free throw after an intentional foul to put the finishing touches on the Tiger win.

“It felt amazing, but without my teammates I wouldn’t have been able to hit that dagger,” Xayarath said. “I’ve got to thank all my teammates, they helped all of us get to this point.”

Voigt finished as the game’s leading scorer with 22 points on 10 of 19 shooting, while Xayarath and Lee added another 11 and 10, respectively. Voigt also grabbed 17 total rebounds — many of which resulted in put-backs or free throws — to add yet another double-double to his collection, helping the Tigers to a 30-23 edge on the glass.

Marshall trailed for the first 25 minutes of game time before taking its first lead seven minutes into the second half. A Brody Riess offensive rebound set up Patrick Morman with a pair of free throws, with Morman hitting both to bring the score to 39-39 for the first tie since 0-0. On the next trip down the court, Maeyaert also went to the line for a pair after a blocking foul on the Saints, and he made the first to give Marshall a 40-39 edge.

The Saints and Tigers traded jabs back and forth from there, with Marshall leading by as many as 6 points before Alex Korir got on a hot streak with a pair of layups and a free throw to give the Saints a 54-53 advantage with four minutes remaining.

St. Peter started the game strong, leading by as many as 9 points in the first eight minutes of play. Still, when Voigt subbed back into the game after getting a breather, the Tigers snapped back into form and trimmed the deficit to 29-24 at halftime.

Defense wins championships

The Tigers were effective defensively both on the interior and on the perimeter, limiting Maloney — a 6-foot-7 University of South Dakota football commit — to 18 points and six rebounds. A big part of that interior effort came from Voigt, who recorded five blocks and knocked down a handful of other shots from the inside as they were on the way up.

“I’m just using my wingspan to my advantage and just trying to help my team by doing what I can to help,” Voigt said.

On the perimeter, Xayarath set the tone. His two steals tied JR Vierstraete for a team-high, but his impact went beyond that. Whether it was disrupting passing lanes with deflections or diving for loose balls to force turnovers or jump balls, the Saints could never get comfortable with possession even behind the arc.

“I just wanted it more than them. They didn’t want it as bad, and I was just trying my hardest to get it,” Xayarath said.

Still a long road ahead

The Tigers’ path doesn’t get any easier after Friday’s big win, which improves their record to 6-4 on the season.. Marshall returns to its home court today to host Mankato East, the reigning state runner-up who returns another strong cast this year, at 3 p.m. From there, the Tigers have another seven ranked opponents remaining on the schedule in their final 16 games.