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Rams’ run sinks Bobcats

11:08 scoring drought does in Marshalltown

The Marshalltown boys’ basketball team is stuck in the same predicament as the debate regarding the chicken or the egg: Which one comes first?

The Bobcats’ offense came up empty for a span of 11 minutes, 8 seconds — a stretch that included the entire third quarter — as Southeast Polk used a 23-0 run to break out for an eventual 61-31 triumph over Marshalltown in Tuesday’s CIML Iowa Conference game at the Roundhouse.

While the Bobcat offense struggled, the team’s defense couldn’t get stops on the other end, either. Had one complemented the other, MHS might have been able to keep up in the second half according to head coach Michael Appel instead of falling by 19 points or more for the fourth game in a row.

“In the third quarter we couldn’t buy a bucket and that’s kind of the story of the game,” said Appel. “They went on a 16-0 run and when you’re having that hard of a time scoring the ball, that deficit seems like a huge mountain to climb.”

Had the Bobcat offense delivered on its end, the team’s defense might have had a chance to establish itself on the other end.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown’s Sean Nyuon goes up for a rebound over Southeast Polk’s Brock Stiles (20) during the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game at the Roundhouse.

With one or two defensive stops along the way, Marshalltown’s offense might have been able to close the gap with some shots that instead rattled out of the rim at the wrong time.

Thus the quandary.

“We did a lot of good things defensively, and we shared the ball on offense and took good shots,” said Appel. “A lot of our turnovers were just careless turnovers where we’re not strong with the ball and we’re turning it over at half court and they’re just laying it in, and those are hard to come back from.

“We were looking for answers [in the third quarter] and at some point we had a couple missed bunnies, so as a coaching staff we’ve got to watch film and figure out a way to get our guys in better position to score the ball.”

This marked the sixth game this season — all losses — in which Marshalltown failed to score more than 35 points. Armonniey Thomas led the Bobcats with a game-high 18 points, but Aidan DeVolder was next up with five points.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The Bobcats fell behind 20-9 early midway through the second quarter before Thomas got five points in a row and DeVolder made a pair of free throws. Thomas knocked down another 3-pointer to make it a 22-19 game, but Marshalltown didn’t score for the next 11:08.

And next up for MHS is Friday’s contest with Class 4A’s top-ranked Waukee Warriors, who are second in the state with a 71.3 points-per-game scoring average.

“They’ve got guys that are big, long and shoot ridiculously well,” said Appel. “We’ll focus on trying to shut some of those guys down and give ourselves a chance.”

Southeast Polk 61, Marshalltown 31

At Marshalltown

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

SE POLK (6-4, 4-1) — James Glenn 1 0-0 2, Boone Bain 3 0-0 7, Dominic Caggiano 6 0-0 13, Malichai Williams 2 2-2 6, Chase Bartlett 2 0-0 5, Fred Johnson 0 0-0 0, Jaxon Dailey 0 0-0 0, Kaleb Krier 2 0-0 5, Tate Goodman 2 0-1 4, Brock Stiles 0 0-0 0, Cade Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Dawson Weatherly 0 0-0 0, Will Jones 3 2-3 8, Maiwut Jock 5 1-4 11, Parker Richie 0 0-0 0, Caleb Daniels 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 26 5-10 61.

MARSHALLTOWN (3-8, 1-4) — Armonniey Thomas 7 1-2 18, Austin Shomo 1 0-0 3, Drake Kapayou 0 0-0 0, Will Van Buren 1 0-0 2, Aidan DeVolder 1 3-5 5, Drake Polley 0 0-0 0, Justin Melde 0 0-0 0, Grant Greazel 1 0-0 3, Sean Nyuon 0 0-0 0, Dwight Joar 0 0-0 0, Trevor Stamp 0 0-1 0. TOTALS 11 4-8 31.

SE POLK 13 9 17 22 — 61

MHS 9 10 0 18 — 37

3-Point Goals–SEP 4 (Bain, Krier, Caggiano, Bartlett), MHS 5 (Thomas 3, Shomo, Greazel). Total Fouls–SEP 12, MHS 11, Fouled Out–none.

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