MORAN — Some early foul trouble, and an assortment of unforced errors kept things in doubt for much of the evening Friday, until Marmaton Valley High’s boys heeded some advice from their head coach.
“Go inside.”
The inside-out approach, keyed by sophomore post player Brayden Lawson, resulted in the Wildcats’ 46-43 win over visiting Oswego.
“We weren’t getting the ball inside enough early and had some silly turnovers,” MV head coach Cornell Walls said. “We weren’t getting enough high-percentage shots.”
That changed midway through the fourth quarter, after Oswego’s Colton Goddard scored on a driving layup at the 4:03 mark to knot the score at 36-36.
“We made it a point to get the ball inside from there,” Walls said.
That approach led to an easy inside bucket by Lawson to re-establish a two-point Wildcat lead An Oswego miss gave the Wildcats possession, capped by a Lawson bucket at the 2:40 mark. Then, the Indians lost the ball on a turnover, leading to Lawson’s third straight field goal and a 42-36 lead with 2 minutes remaining.
Then, after Oswego threatened to pull even once again, it was Lawson’s turn to be the distributor. He found junior Chase Smith for an easy inside bucket and a 44-40 lead with under a minute left.
Oswego’s Jake Hutchinson misfired on a subsequent 3-pointer, which led to another Smith putback with 20 seconds and a six-point lead.
Tanner O’Neal gave the Indians one final salvo when he drained a trey at the 8.8-second mark, but Marmaton Valley was able to play keep-away over the waning seconds, preventing Oswego from trying to foul.
“It was tough, but we got it done,” Walls said. “It wasn’t our prettiest game, but we played well. We fought hard, and left it all out there.”
The game was nip-and-tuck from the outset, as early foul trouble sent both Lawson and Jaedon Granere — MV’s two leading scorers — to the bench for the Wildcats.
“Our subs came in and competed,” Walls said. “They stepped up and answered the call.”
The Wildcats led by as many as five before a 7-0 Oswego flurry to end the second quarter put the Wildcats in arrears for the first time, 23-21, at halftime.
Rather than mope, Marmaton Valley responded quickly in the third quarter, as the teams exchanged leads seven times in the period.
“I told the guys the first three minutes of the second half were key,” Walls said. “We were able to jump back in it. They responded well.”
Lawson’s late flurry gave him a team-high 14 to lead the Wildcats. Dylan Drake followed with 11, while Granere scored seven and Dominick Smith six.
