MORAN — Relentless pressure and a will to battle back late wasn’t enough for Marmaton Valley High Tuesday night. The Wildcat boys’ basketball team narrowly fell to Frontenac High’s Raiders 61-56.
A promising start had the Wildcats in the hunt early as Marmaton Valley looked for its third win of the season, finishing the opening period within striking distance — down 10-6. But when guard Derrick Carr rolled his ankle in the second period, the Wildcats lost a bit of luster and let the deficit swell to nine points.
“(The Raiders) had stole the ball and Carr was just hustling down the court,” said Wildcat head coach Denny Lasley. “He got there and took a swipe at the ball as a guy was going up for a layup but stepped on one of his teammates feet. So, we missed him tonight in the game.”
To open the second half, the Raiders led 28-19. Poor shooting and an inability to find a rhythm kept the Wildcats reeling in the third period as the Raiders opened up a 14-point lead.
“We missed a lot of shots. We weren’t running our offense, just couldn’t get it clicking. ” Lasley said. “We missed seven easy baskets underneath (the rim) and made two, just little chip shots.”
Though down 47-33, there was no quit for the Wildcats as they went into the final period.
With a tenacious defense — led by Zach Louk’s four steals — and relentless energy, Marmaton Valley whittled the Raider lead to five points with just moments left to play. However, poor play the first three periods proved to be the difference.
“The kids played hard. They were shot at the end of the fourth quarter,” Lasley said. “We put a lot of pressure on and got a lot of steals, but we just dug ourselves too big a hole to begin with.”
Leading the Wildcats offense in defeat was Louk with a game-high 15 points followed by Jimmy Frye with 10. Nathan Smart led the team with eight rebounds.
Raider Keith Lollar led his team with 14 points.
There was no report to the Register on Tuesday night’s girls’ game, which Frontenac won 73-22. The Marmaton Valley girls fall to 0-6.
The Wildcat boys (2-4) and girls travel to Colony Friday to take on Crest High’s basketball teams.
Marmaton Valley (6-13-14-23—56) (FG/3-pt): Louk 5/1-2-2-15, Smith 1-1-3-3, Becker 2-2-3-6, Frye 5-0-5-10, Hamlin 1-3-0-5, Stewart 2-1-2-5, Smart 2-5-3-9. TOTALS: 18/1-14-18-56.
Frontenac (10-18-19-14—61): Keith 3-2-2-8, Coronado 0-0-3-0, Herrelson 0-0-2-0, N. Herrelson 1/1-0-1-5, Standlee 1/1-2-3-7, Barto 4-1-5-9, Zanfuta 0-1-4-1, Powell 1-0-0-2, Lollar 6-2-1-14, Spangler 1-0-0-2, Macary 4-5-0-13. TOTALS: 21/2-13-21-61.
