MORAN A 26-point loss nearly a month ago did not weigh heavily on the minds of Marmaton Valley players going into their match-up with area powerhouse Northeast Arma Tuesday evening, despite their impressive 14-3 record.
The host Wildcats record was a much humbler 2-12 but based on the first two quarters of Marmaton Valleys 65-41 loss Tuesday night, records were interchangeable and irrelevant.
Our guys played hard today and I was proud of them, said Wildcat assistant coach Denny Lasley, who was in charge with head coach Jason Bauer out of town. We played with a lot of heart. But credit to Arma because theyre a heck of a team. Once they settle down and play their game, theyre incredibly tough to beat.
Marmaton Valley came in ready to scrap and ugly up the game, and thats just what they did. Arma looked sluggish by comparison and the Wildcats pushed their lead to as much as four when the Vikings called timeout with 6:30 to play in the second quarter.
Two minutes later, Wildcat senior Isaac Heskett was whistled for a technical foul after an argument with an official and from that point on, the tide started to shift.
(Heskett) kind of lost his cool which was unfortunate because we needed him out there. Were really not a deep team, Lasley said. But our rule is when you get a technical youre done for the game so he had to sit the whole second half.
The Vikings mounted a 10-point run to put them back in the lead for the first time since the first quarter. The Vikings got their lead to as much as eight before the Wildcats, led by senior duo Gage Griffith and Caiden Elliott, closed the half on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 23-20 at intermission.
The Wildcats never retook the lead in the second half and only stayed within arms reach for the first five minutes of the half. Arma grabbed a 10-point lead with 2:20 to play the third quarter and despite a solid defensive effort and threes, Arma used its zone to force turnovers and easy transition buckets to push its lead to 15 by the end of the quarter.
Griffith fouled out with 5:36 left in the game and two minutes later, the Viking lead eclipsed 20.
Griffith ended the day with 16 points followed by 13 for Elliott who hit four threes.
We have a good bunch of kids, we really do, Lasley said. And Coach Bauer does a great job keeping the kids interested and wanting to improve.
The Wildcats will travel to Oswego on Thursday before returning home on Friday to face Southern Coffey County for Winter Homecoming.
Marmaton Valley (13-7-11-1041) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Griffith 4/1-5-5-16, Elliott 0/4-1-0-13, Scharff 2/0-0-1-4, W. Lowder 0/1-0-2-3, Pejovic 1/0-0-0-2, Dudley 1/0-0-5-2, Wes Lowder 0/0-1-0-1, Heskett 0/0-0-4-0. TOTALS: 8/6-7-17-41.
Northeast Arma (11-12-23-1965) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) McLaughlin 10/0-2-3-22, Cashero 9/0-0-5-18, Dugan 6/0-1-1-13, McCauley 1/0-4-3-6, K. Dugan 1/0-1-4-3, Reeves 1/0-0-2-2, Cleland 0/0-1-0-1. TOTALS: 28/0-9-18-65.
