PLEASANT HILL — The defensive-minded Bobcats couldn’t make up for a lack of offense, while Southeast Polk turned its defense into offense.

The host Rams ran away and hid in the second half on the way to a 54-29 triumph over the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team in Monday’s non-conference clash in Pleasant Hill.

Southeast Polk pushed the Bobcats up against the wall with a trapping 1-3-1 defense and solid man-to-man pressure the likes of which Marshalltown (4-2) hadn’t seen yet this season.

“They were really physical with us and we didn’t handle it very well,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “They got a lot of points off turnovers and their transition to start the second half, they really got the ball ahead and we didn’t get back in time.”

A defensive slugfest to start, Southeast Polk led 17-13 at the half. The Rams (4-2) used a 6-0 run to start the third quarter and pulled ahead by 13 — 32-19 — going into the fourth.

A 14-0 surge by Southeast Polk to start the final period was the deciding blow to a Bobcat team that scored its fewest points in a game in two seasons.

“That four-minute start to the third quarter, they jumped out and it was pretty much over from there,” said Appel. “We didn’t handle that coming out of the half very well at all.”

Emmanuel Tete scored 11 of his game-high 19 points after halftime, most of them on transition layups, and Grand View Christian transfer Thomas Childs tallied nine of his 12 points after the break as well.

Southeast Polk outscored MHS 37-16 after halftime to run its win streak in the series to five games.

Kyle Smith and Damian Segovia scored seven points apiece to lead Marshalltown, which shot just 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the loss. Jacob Hayes finished with six points and four rebounds, Drake Gersema got four points and a team-high five rebounds despite batting an illness, Gavin Misek had three points and Larrs Schoenfelder added two.

“I think just their pressure, they were switching everything and made it hard to get in our actions early on,” Appel said of his team’s offensive struggles. “We had some good looks that first half but they didn’t drop. If we make a few of those that first half it’s a little bit different at halftime, but at the end of the day we have to be much better in transition and we’ve got to be able to handle some physicality and pressure and attack when they’re doing that.”

Marshalltown closes out the 2025 portion of its schedule with Friday’s home game against Fort Dodge in the Roundhouse.

Southeast Polk 54, Marshalltown 29

MARSHALLTOWN (4-2) — Drake Gersema 2 0-3 4, Kyle Smith 3 0-0 7, Damian Segovia 2 3-3 7, Jacob Hayes 3 0-1 6, Larrs Schoenfelder 1 0-0 2, Gavin Misek 0 3-4 3, Hunter Fors 0 0-0 0, Talon Halsted 0 0-0 0, Tyler Dorothy 0 0-0 0, Garrett Thede 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 6-11 29.

SE POLK (4-2) — Emmanuel Tete 9 1-3 19, Henry Gaffney 1 0-2 2, Thomas Childs 4 1-1 12, Will Hinze 1 0-0 3, Josh Charlotin 5 0-0 10, Chris Zeh 0 0-0 0, Jordyn Perry 1 0-0 2, Joey Childs 1 0-0 3, Sean Sinnott 1 1-1 3, Zion McCool 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 3-7 54.

MHS 8 5 6 10 — 29

SE POLK 7 10 15 22 — 54

3-Point Goals–MHS 1 (Smith), SEP 5 (T.Childs 3, Hinze, J.Childs). Team Fouls–MHS 10, SEP 18. Fouled Out–none.