He was a coach who knew the challenge his team faced heading into Saturday evening’s game against the No. 2 Johnston Dragons (20-2). Led by good contributions from many players, the Dragons were well up to the task and beat the Bobcats 65-19 in Class 5A regional semifinal action. The Marshalltown season ends at 3-20.

Murphy said he knew it would be a difficult task for the Bobcats.

“Unfortunately with a team like Johnston, there’s a very small margin for error,” Murphy said. “I thought we fought, we battled throughout the entire game.”

Marshalltown fell behind 18-2 after the first quarter, struggling to get shots to fall against the speed of Johnston’s defense. However, the turnovers for the Bobcats were down significantly from their normal numbers as of late and handled the press Johnston sent out on a few possessions with relative ease. The gap widened to 41-8 at halftime — with senior Gabby Himes scoring five of the team’s first-half points.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Johnston’s offensive attack was quick, egalitarian and aggressive — no Dragons player scored more than 15 points, but five players scored seven or more. The Dragons had 19 assists and hit half of their 16 3-point attempts. Kendall Nead led the Dragons with 15 points.

Marshalltown was led by Himes, who had nine points and said she wanted to go into her last game playing free and fun basketball.

“I was just kinda shooting whatever I got, I guess,” Himes said. “We kinda just did stuff we’ve always wanted to do.”

The second half was much of the same — missed shots from Marshalltown leading to transition Johnston baskets. The running clock came into effect early in the third quarter and was present the rest of the game as the Bobcats’ season ticked down. Himes led the team in scoring, followed by four points from Lily Roberts. Seniors Erica Johnson and Madi Finch rounded out the scoring with three points each.

Saturday was the final game for six Marshalltown players, including four of the five starters. Murphy, in his first season with the Bobcats, helped them win their most games since 2015. His rebuilding project will continue with all-new contributors next year apart from Roberts.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Murphy said he will continue to rely on the team’s outgoing seniors to help encourage others to join the team, and added that it’ll be a busy summer.

“We want those young players to come up and emulate what we’ve seen,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a lot of other athletes in that group that we’re expecting to come up and put the time in this summer.”

Johnston 65, Marshalltown 19

At Johnston

MARSHALLTOWN (3-20) — Erica Johnson 1 1-3 3, Lily Roberts 2 0-0 4, Madi Finch 1 0-0 3, Gabby Himes 4 1-1 9, Olivia Brintnall 0 0-0 0, Emma Younkin 0 0-0 0, Priscilla Vergara 0 0-0 0, Avygail Smith 0 0-0 0, Paige Wertzerberger 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 2-4 19

JOHNSTON (20-2) — Maya McDermott 5 0-0 12, Kinsey Jilek 3 1-2 9, Anna Gossling 1 0-0 3, Kendall Nead 6 2-2 15, Maddie Mock 2 0-0 4, Zoey Buchan 0 2-2 2, Ashley Faber 0 0-0 0, Macie Downing 0 0-0 0, Kayla Frickenstein 1 0-0 2, Molly Noelck 3 0-0 7, Natalie Kahre 3 0-0 7, Allie Hart 1 0-0 2, Audrey Till 0 0-0 0, Emma Hampton 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 25 7-11 65

MHS 2 6 4 7 — 19

JOHNSTON 18 23 11 13 — 65

3-Point Goals — MHS 1 (Finch), Johnston 8 (McDermott 2, Jilek 2, Gossling, Noelck, Nead, Kahre). Total Fouls — MHS 9, Johnston 10. Fouled Out — none.