Will Van Buren

DES MOINES — Des Moines North hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game, and the two players the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team couldn’t allow to get hot started hot and stayed that way.

Deavin Hilson and Diondre Taylor combined for 11 3-pointers and scored 27 points apiece as Des Moines North dashed past the Bobcats 87-64 in Tuesday’s cross-CIML contest.

The Polar Bears (1-2) jumped out to a 23-10 lead after the first quarter and had Marshalltown (1-2) chasing them from the outside. It was 50-23 North at the half.

“They got going offensively early on and hit some shots, we got down so far that it makes it tough for us,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “We can’t let them get in a rhythm because that makes them really tough to beat.

“They like to go fast. A couple guys we didn’t want to let get going got going, and that made us play an up-tempo game which isn’t ideal for us. It was a combination of those things.”

Gore Puot added a pair of first-half 3-pointers for North, which finished with 14 triples for the game.

Marshalltown maintained its deficit through the third quarter and outscored North in the fourth, but the hole was too deep to dig out of.

“We didn’t completely fold, we battled coming out of the half with a 9-2 run,” Appel said. “We tried to scrap and kept playing but at the end of the day we can’t get down that early, it makes it tough for us to come back.”

Armonniey Thomas had three 3-pointers and finished with 19 points to lead Marshalltown. Will Van Buren piled up 15 points and Drake Kapayou made four 3-pointers for 12 points, but the Bobcats fell in their first game away from the Roundhouse.

“A lot of [their scoring] was off the turnovers and things we can control,” Appel said. “Turning the ball over for points and they’re shooting as well as they are, it’s hard to make up for those things. We’ve got to limit those things we can control.

“The best thing about tonight is we get to play again Thursday, so we can put [North] out of our mind and focus on Newton and use this as motivation to get better.”

The Bobcats host the Cardinals (1-1) in the second game of a girl/boy doubleheader starting at 6:15 p.m. Thursday night at the Roundhouse.

Des Moines North 87, Marshalltown 64

At Des Moines

MHS (1-2) — Armonniey Thomas 8 0-0 19, Drake Kapayou 4 0-0 12, Will Van Buren 7 1-2 15, Dwight Joar 2 0-0 4, Trevor Stamp 1 0-0 2, Drake Polley 0 0-0 0, Austin Shomo 2 0-0 6, Justin Melde 1 0-0 3, Gatluak Kuony 0 0-0 0, Grant Greazel 1 0-0 2, Sean Nyuon 0 1-1 0, Alonzo Ceren 0 0-0 0, Josh Boriskey 0 0-0 0, Aidan DeVolder 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 26 2-5 64.

DM NORTH (1-2) — Gore Puot 4 1-2 11, Tharon Locure 2 2-2 7, Deavin Hilson 9 3-4 27, Diondre Taylor 8 4-4 27, Jack McGlothen 4 0-0 8, Makhia Duncan 2 0-0 6, Tan Nguyen 0 0-0 0, Jaheim Temple 1 0-0 2, Kevon Bickham 0 0-0 0, Darius Washington 1 1-2 3, Rai’Anthony Harris 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 31 11-14 87.

MHS 10 13 20 21 — 64

DM NORTH 23 27 23 14 — 87

3-Point Goals–MHS 10 (Kapayou 4, Thomas 3, Shomo 2, Melde), DMN 14 (Hilson 6, Taylor 5, Puot 2, Locure 1). Total Fouls–MHS 13, DMN 16. Fouled Out–Thomas.