MHS had lost three of its last four games after entering 2019 with a 6-2 record, and the Tigers made it four losses in the last five and three-straight as the Bobcats fell 59-33 in the Roundhouse.

Marshalltown boys head coach Michael Appel said it was another bad night of shooting that sunk his team against Valley.

“We just had a really hard time scoring the basketball tonight, one of our stat guys had us down for 5-for-20 from three,” Appel said. “The majority of those shots were open looks, and if you make those they get out of that 1-3-1 zone because they have no choice. The weak spot of that zone is those corner threes, and if you can knock those down it helps to get out of that, but we could never get shots to fall.”

The last time the two teams met, the Tigers (13-2, 6-1) took a 71-62 win over the Bobcats (7-6, 3-4), so Appel said it was good that his team was able to cut down the Valley scoring effort but they need to find a way to put points on the board themselves.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown junior Trevor Stamp (44) goes for a shot over Valley defender Will Berg, right, during the second quarter of the Bobcats’ 59-33 loss to the Tigers in the Roundhouse on Friday.

“We held them to 59, that’s not too bad, I’d like to see it a little bit lower but when we played them out there they were in the 70’s,” he said. “We are just really struggling offensively right now and we have to figure that out.”

The most consistent scorer since returning from winter break for MHS has been senior Sunday Arou, who once again had a team-high 10 points in the loss, followed by Jacob Smith with nine. Arou scored the first bucket of the game on a 3-pointer that put Marshalltown up 3-2 early in the first quarter, but he also picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and had to sit for essentially the rest of the first half.

Once Arou went out in the first, Valley went on a 12-0 run that was only cut by an Armonniey Thomas three at the buzzer, but Appel said when Arou sits on the bench his team has to make up for his presence on the court.

“They went on a little bit of a run there, he’s such an important part of our team that we have to have him on the floor,” Appel said. “He gets two quick fouls like that it makes it tough obviously, but we will figure it out and have some other guys step up and get it going here.”

MHS used the momentum from Thomas’ three at the end of the first quarter to get back into the game, and midway through the second quarter it was just a 14-11 advantage for Valley. The Tigers would close out the half on a 13-0 run to go up by 16 at halftime and essentially seal the game, and Appel said his team not seeing game action in 10 days due to weather cancellations could have been a factor.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“When they are that tall it makes it tough sometimes, but we have to do a better job of picking and choosing when to attack and break them down and being more patient on offense,” he said. “Especially if we’re not shooting the ball well, we’ve got to realize that and try something else.”

Another huge factor was turnovers, as the Bobcats turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and 19 times throughout. Valley used many of those turnovers to run out for dunks or layups, and when they got into the halfcourt Jake Auer was able to get sink three makes from behind the 3-point line for and finish with a game-high 13 points.

“There were times where we were not valuing the basketball,” Appel said. “Silly passes there and lazy passes where they are just picking it off and going the other way and now they are laying it in. If you continue to do that, that’s how they create those big leads. We turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and we only had 11 points. We turned the ball over 19 total times and if they convert on half of those, that’s the ballgame right there. We’ve got to value the basketball and make our shots.”

Marshalltown is now officially in the middle of its first losing streak, and the road doesn’t get much easier with a talented Ankeny team coming to town on Tuesday.

Appel said this is no time to get down on themselves though, and it’s not too late to get back to the quality basketball that saw them get off to a 6-2 start before winter break.

“We’ve got to come every day with a purpose in practice and continue to get better and have that hungry drive to win games,” Appel said. “Come with that mindset of, ‘we can win every game if we play harder than them and if we want it more than them.’ At the same time we can lose every game if we don’t prepare the right way and don’t do that, and that’s kind of where we’re at right now. We are just getting a little stagnant and just kind of going through the motions at times, and we have to get back to going hard and doing it with a purpose and getting better every day. And that comes with practicing hard and with a purpose.”

West Des Moines Valley 59, Marshalltown 33

At Marshalltown

VALLEY (13-2, 6-1) — Sam Stevenson 1 0-0 3, Evan Obia 3 0-0 6, Trayvon Williams 2 1-1 5, Will Berg 3 0-0 7, Drew Jirak 2 0-1 4, Aguek Deng 4 1-4 9, Austin Anfinson 0 0-0 0, Jake Auer 4 2-2 13, Jon Shaner 1 1-2 3, Filip Haakansson 0 2-2 2, Michael Chambers 3 0-0 6, Grant Rieker 0 0-0 0, Ethan Hansen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 7-13 59.

MARSHALLTOWN (7-6, 3-4) — Armonniey Thomas 2 0-0 6, Bennett O’Hare 0 0-0 0, Jacob Smith 4 1-1 9, Will Van Buren 0 0-0 0, Sunday Arou 4 0-0 10, Kabba Pins 1 0-0 3, Austin Shomo 0 0-0 0, Eric Kapayou 0 3-4 3, Jensen Evans 0 0-0 0, Luke Smith 0 0-0 0, Trevor Stamp 1 0-0 2, Trace Markle 0 0-0 0, Gok Arou 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 12 4-7 33.

VALLEY 14 13 13 19 — 59

MHS 6 5 12 10 — 33

3-Point Goals–Valley 5 (Auer 3, Stevenson, Berg), MHS 5 (Arou 2, Thomas 2, Pins). Total Fouls–Valley 11, MHS 15. Fouled Out–none.