Bennett O'Hare

JOHNSTON — The Marshalltown boys’ basketball team used a full-court zone press to get themselves back into the game, but it was Johnston’s pressure that turned the tide for the host Dragons.

Johnston took the ball away from the Bobcats too many times for Marshalltown to keep pace, and the Dragons took off for a 78-50 victory in Tuesday’s season opener for both teams.

MHS managed to turn its press into points in the early stages of the second quarter, as Armonniey Thomas converted a steal into a three-point play, and Jacob Smith scored a 3-pointer from the corner moments later to give the Bobcats a 23-21 lead. But the Dragons answered in kind, scoring the next 10 points, and never trailed again.

“They went on a run and we couldn’t answer,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “We couldn’t get stops and we couldn’t score either. Their pressure really got to us, and we didn’t handle the ball as well as we should have.”

Marshalltown trailed by 13 at the half, 39-26, and never managed to get any closer than that margin.

Reid Grant scored 12 points and Peyton Williams added 11 to lead Johnston, which was a Class 4A state tournament qualifier a year ago.

“That’s a tough opponent to start the year, they only lost four games last year,” said Appel. “They know how to win and they expect to win. Our guys were excited and ready to roll and we played with them for one and a half quarters but we couldn’t sustain what they were doing.

“The guys played hard, no doubt about it, but it’s a matter of cleaning a few things up.”

Bennett O’Hare led the Bobcats with 11 points in the season opener, Smith scored eight points, while Austin Shomo and Sunday Arou added seven points apiece. Thomas tallied six points in his Bobcat debut.

Marshalltown goes back out on the road Friday with a game at Des Moines East.