Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall guard Patrick Morman goes up for a layup during the second half of a Section 2AAA boys basketball quarterfinal game against Worthington, Tuesday in Marshall.

This story will be updated with quotes

MARSHALL — Takeaways and transition points were the story of the night in the No. 2 Marshall boys basketball team’s Section 2AAA quarterfinal matchup against No. 7 Worthington Tuesday night. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and held on down the stretch for a 79-68 win.

Marshall got off to a flaming hot start by converting offense to defense, coming away with a steal on each of its first four defensive possessions and turning it into 6 points off turnovers.

After JR Vierstraete scored a paint bucket on the game’s first possession, Andrew Lee tipped a pass and saved it from going out of bounds to Patrick Morman, who drew a foul and knocked down a pair of free throws.

Voigt came up with another steal before slamming home a dunk, and another Marshall steal yielded Worthington’s first defensive stop of the game. Still, Morman stole the ball in the press and finished the play with a layup, prompting a Worthington timeout, trailing 8-0 through the game’s first 75 seconds.

Marshall forced a total of 23 turnovers in the game while coughing it up just 12 times themselves. Lee and Morman led the Charge with seven and five steals, respectively, while Morman was one of two Tigers with a block alongside Voigt.

Worthington scored its first points of the game after the timeout, getting back-to-back buckets from Kason Spartz. Yet, Marshall answered each time with a Voigt 3-pointer to bring its lead to double digits.

The Tigers’ lead teetered around 10 points for most of the first half, but Marshall found an extra burst of strength in the final five minutes before halftime, quickly bringing the lead from 8 points up to 19, 47-28, at the half.

Voigt and Morman tied with a team-high 17 points on the night, Voigt shooting 7 of 16 from the field with three 3s and Morman shooting 7 of 31 from the field. Voigt had 15 of his points come in the first half.

Maeyaert and Pieper also scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points, and Marshall shot 51% from the field and 7 of 14 from 3 as a team.

Marshall improves to 15-12 on the season with the win, now having won five of its last six games. The Tigers will take on third-seeded St. Peter in the section semifinals at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The Saints spent most of the season hovering in and out of the Class 3A top 10 rankings, but Marshall won both of the teams’ head-to-head matchups by a score of 63-57 in Marshall on Jan. 9 and 62-56 in St. Peter on Feb. 6.