MORAN — Marmaton Valley High saved its best for last.
The Wildcats celebrated Senior Night — their final home game of the 2022-23 regular season — with arguably their most impressive game of the year, topping high-powered Jayhawk-Linn, 59-55.
Freshman Tyler Lord was MV’s key protagonist, drilling four 3-pointers in the first half alone en route to a game-high 24 points.
His hot shooting propelled the Wildcats to a 41-29 lead at the break.
Jayhawk-Linn mounted a charge down the stretch, taking advantage of the Wildcats’ struggles on the free throw line to make things interesting. The Jayhawks pulled within 52-42 after three quarters, and then saw Marmaton Valley miss seven of eight free throws in the fourth quarter.
But field goals from Lord, Chase Smith and Jaedon Granere helped keep the Wildcats on top.
Smith scored 11, Brayden Lawson poured in nine and Granere had eight.
Braeden Nation led the Jayhawks with 14 points, followed by Gus Grote with 13.
The win puts Marmaton Valley at 7-12, in a tie for fourth in their Class 1A-I substate, with one game remaining Friday at Chetopal. The top four seeds in substate will get one home playoff game before the semifinal and final rounds shift to Oswego.
Marmaton Valley also won the junior varsity contest, 22-14, in two quarters.
Granere scored 10 to lead the Wildcat JV. Lord added six. Dominic Smith, Todd Stevenson and Brevyn Campbell added two points each.
J-Linn (12-17-13-13—55) FG/3pt FT F TP
A. Nation 4/1 0 4 11, T. Broyles 0 0 1 0, Grote 4 5 5 13, Spencer 1 0 0 2, B. Nation 5 4 4 14, Nickelson 3 2 3 8
Taylor 2 1 3 5. Totals 20/1 12 23 55
MV (17-24-9-7—59)
Drake 2 1 3 5, Granere 4 0 3 8, D. Smith 1 0 2 2, Morrison 0 0 1 0, Lord 3/4 6 3 24, C. Smith 3/1 2 2 11, Lawson 3 3 5 9. Totals 16/5 12 19 59
