A 12-point lead the first time around wasn’t enough to knock out Lincoln, so the Bobcats took it to another level on Tuesday night.

More than two months after opening the season with an overtime win at Des Moines Lincoln, the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team put away the Railsplitters in a 55-39 triumph in Iowa Alliance Conference play at the Roundhouse.

The Bobcats (12-7) took a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter, saw Lincoln (8-11) chip it down to 10, but retaliated to take control for the home stretch.

Seniors Kyle Smith and Jacob Hayes scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, and junior Drake Gersema also got 14 points to help power the Bobcats on Senior Night.

Des Moines Lincoln switched out of its man-to-man defense into a 2-3 zone that opened the window for Marshalltown’s all-time leading 3-point shooter to deliver the knockout punch, and he did it twice.

Smith hit back-to-back triples, the latter leaving Lincoln defeated in a 51-35 deficit with two minutes to play.

“I knew there was going to be other players that were going to be able to step up, but if the ball came to me, I’m going to go ahead and take the shot,” said Smith, who made four 3-pointers on the night. “Everybody else did a great job of distributing and getting the ball to players when they needed to in order to make shots.”

Freshman Damian Segovia chipped in eight points in his 18th career start. He had just four points in his first career start all that time ago at Des Moines Lincoln.

“I just think we’re a lot more experienced,” Smith said. “That first game, we had two freshmen starting and they’d never started before, so we’ve got a lot more experience on our backs and we know the game plan more, we knew the people coming in and we knew how to go out and get the win.”

There was only one tie in the game and Marshalltown never trailed, but the Bobcats couldn’t pull away in the first half. A jumpshot by Hayes made it 27-23 with 20 seconds left, and Marshalltown came out of a timeout in a 1-3-1 zone defense for the first time after having played man-to-man to that point.

Lincoln struggled to get a shot off before the halftime buzzer, so the Bobcats stuck with that defensive strategy for the remainder of the game and gradually pulled away.

“I think both teams have obviously gotten a lot better as the season’s gone on, but I think we’re just a lot more solid,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “We don’t make as many mistakes, not as many turnovers, we execute better, and defensively we have some different things we can switch to.

“I think that zone impacted them quite a bit that second half and was a nice adjustment for us.”

Smith led the Bobcats with seven rebounds, Gersema had seven assists and two steals, and Hayes added four boards as Marshalltown steamed into the final week of the regular season.

Seniors Tyler Dorothy and Talon Halsted joined Smith, Hayes and Gersema in the starting lineup as the hometown faithful honored them on Senior Night.

Dorothy kicked off the festivities with a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the game, bringing the crowd to its feet in the senior’s first career start.

“They’re terrific, they’re everything you’d ask for as a coach,” Appel said of his four seniors. “It’s their attitude, their effort every single day, their consistency and in practice what they bring. It’s easy to coach when your seniors work the hardest. Kyle, Jacob and even Talon and Tyler, in their own ways they understand their roles and they work extremely hard. It’s all about the team and what’s best for the team and it’s been a joy to coach these guys.”

The Bobcats go back out on the road Friday to Des Moines East, and the regular season ends with Monday’s home game against Des Moines North.

Marshalltown 55, Des Moines Lincoln 39

DM LINCOLN (8-11) — Lionel Parks 3 0-0 6, Adom Kwakye 2 2-2 8, Bryce Page 3 1-2 8, Manas Gai 2 2-5 6, Rico Mann 2 0-2 5, Bryan De Meyer 0 0-0 0, Henry Fry 0 0-0 0, Kayden Reeves 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 15 5-11 39.

MARSHALLTOWN (12-7) — Drake Gersema 6 2-5 14, Kyle Smith 5 0-0 14, Jacob Hayes 5 2-4 12, Talon Halsted 0 0-0 0, Tyler Dorothy 1 0-0 3, Jamison Niehouse 2 0-0 4, Gavin Misek 0 0-0 0, Aiden Holmgren 0 0-0 0, Damian Segovia 3 0-0 8, Larrs Schoenfelder 0 0-0 0, Garrett Thede 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 22 4-9 55.

DM LINCOLN 9 14 6 10 — 39

MHS 14 13 15 13 — 55

3-Point Goals–DM Lincoln 4 (Kwakye 2, Page, Mann), MHS 7 (Smith 4, Segovia 2, Dorothy). Team Fouls–DM Lincoln 14, MHS 9. Fouled Out–none.