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Boys basketball: Marcus opens Marauder Jaguar Classic with a win
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
FLOWER MOUND — Marcus’ boys basketball team only outscored Arlington in only one quarter Thursday in its opener at the Marauder-Jaguar Classic.
Fortunately for the Marauders, they held a 19-point advantage in that period.
Marcus raced out to a 21-2 lead against the Colts and never looked back securing a 53-41 victory.
It was Marcus’ defense that sparked the Marauders early.
Leading, 2-0, a 3-pointer from the corner by Jack Holden pushed the margin to 5-0 before consecutive steals and coast-to-coast layups by Michael Wheeler and Holden, respectively, increased the lead to 9-0.
The Marauders also showed their unselfishness with four different players recording assists in the first quarter, including Aaron Steele dumping the ball down to Chad Elliot for a bucket, Holden and Stephen Robinson each connecting with Michael Mayhew for corner 3-pointers and Elliot hitting Wheeler for a deuce. A driving layup in the closing seconds by Steele gave Marcus a commanding lead after one.
“I thought early on we did some really good things,” Cody said. “But they were mixing up their defenses and started pressuring us in the second half and we didn’t handle that very well. We need to attack it and go backdoor or put the ball on the floor and go by them. I thought we got a little timid. But again that is another learning lesson for us to try and get better.”
Arlington’s 1-3-1 half-court trap, in particular, gave Marcus problems, an issue that was made more evident after Holden had to leave with a bruise to his knee early in the third quarter.
“That gave us some problems,” Cody added. “And not having Jack out there hurt us because he missed his explosiveness to the basket. But it was good for the kids who hadn’t played a lot to get them some more playing time. Every game is a new game for us because we have guys who haven’t experienced the varsity basketball scene.”
Marcus earned its biggest lead of the night midway through the third quarter when another Mayhew connection from distance and a hoop at the basket by Keaton Sutherland on an assist by Steele gave Marcus a 38-13 lead.
However, the Colts scored the final 10 points of the third quarter and cut the deficit to as few as nine at 44-35 in the fourth.
But Mayhew’s fifth 3-pointer of the night and a drive by Steele gave Marcus breathing room in the final half of the quarter.
“We’re such a young team, we have to keep working on maintaining that intensity,” Cody said. “We kind of let them back in the ball game. It was a gradual process but they end up cutting it to nine in the fourth quarter. We still have a lot of work to do, but it was nice to be ahead.”
The Marauders hit seven 3-pointers as a team shot 46 percent from the field while holding Arlington to 35 percent shooting. Marcus also outrebounded the Colts, 29-21, and allowed just one offensive rebound in the second half after surrendering four in the first half.
“I was really pleased there and we’ve only been outrebounded in one game so far this year,” Cody said. “Where we have to get better is the 13 turnovers against a team that really wasn’t pressuring us a lot early. I thought we shot well and won the battle of the boards. If you do those things, you’re usually going to win, and hopefully we can keep it up later tonight.”
The Marauders continue at 7 p.m. today against Mesquite Poteet.
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