By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Marionville, Mo. — A run midway through the third quarter helped Marionville pull away from Greenfield en route to a 58-38 victory Thursday night.
While the final score might allude to a blowout win, the game was far from it — especially in the first half.
Marionville was able to maintain a slim lead for most of the first three quarters; however, the Comets had all sorts of difficulties defending senior Marcus Wright, the reigning Spring River Valley Conference player of the year.
Wright worked inside and out in the first half, scoring 14 of his game-high 22 points with relative ease. At the other end, Marionville’s offense found little room to operate.
Junior Dominick Clevenger was the lone Comet to score in the quarter with 8 points, as the Greenfield rally was barely held in check.
Nursing just a one-point lead early in the third, the stagnant Comet offense looked to be in desperate need of a spark.
Enter Josh Goodman.
After being held in check most of the first half by Wright’s defensive efforts, Goodman erupted for 10 of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter. The junior guard’s first bucket with 6:27 left in the frame gave Marionville a 28-25 lead and some new life on offense.
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After making a few halftime adjustments to improve his offensive flow, Marionville head coach Ted Young praised Goodman’s response.
“Josh has to do some of that for us,” Young said. “He’s kind of got a scorer’s mentality. In the first half, Marcus did a pretty good job on him. In the second half, we just thought we were pretty stagnant and didn’t move very well, and Josh moved better without the ball … and our other guys moved better without the ball, as well, which helped Josh.”
Marionville’s defense also found a renewed focus, clamping down to minimize Wright’s open looks at the basket and hold the 6-foot-2 playmaker scoreless in the fourth quarter. With improved defense, rebounding and transition success, the Comets utilized 6-0 and 14-1 runs to stretch into a commanding lead.
After the game, Young talked about making adjustments to slow down Greenfield’s main scoring threat.
“In the second half, we tried to make it a little bit harder on Marcus,” Young said. “We face-guarded him a little bit harder. I thought we did better on their ball screens, and we rebounded pretty well and got some easy buckets on the other end.”
Despite the big win and solid defensive effort, Young showed concern for a string of miscues during the contest. The Comets were plagued by a host of turnovers and missed free throws on the evening, which could make the difference in a close battle.
“We have a long ways to go,” Young said. “We have been turning the ball over way too much for my liking, and we just can’t turn the ball over and win big games. How we play, it’s not flying up and down the court, so each possession is pretty big for us. If we’re turning the ball over, it’s not very good, but we’re still just a work in progress.”
Dominick Clevenger and Gavin Stanton joined Goodman in double figures for the Comets, scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively.
For Greenfield head coach Preston Hyde, the game turned on the Wildcats’ inability to consistently defend the basket in the second half.
“We don’t defend, we don’t have help-side defense and we don’t run the floor hard,” Hyde said. “Whenever you do that stuff, you’re just asking for a loss.”
Greenfield also played without the services of 6-foot-6 senior Colin White, who is still recovering from a football injury. While White is expected back in the lineup at some point next week, the Wildcats are still searching for the right mix of leadership and focus on the court, according to Hyde.
“Hopefully, we can get the guys to realize that, whenever we have a leader who goes and does that, then everybody follows,” Hyde said. “We have to establish a constant, consistent leader, and right now we don’t have that.”
Both teams are back in action Friday, Dec. 8. Marionville (4-2) hosts Southwest, while Greenfield (2-3) hosts Liberal.
Varsity final: Marionville – 58, Greenfield – 38
Marionville 16 08 21 13 — 58
Greenfield 08 11 12 07 — 38
Marionville scoring: Josh Goodman – 20, Dominick Clevenger – 12, Gavin Stanton – 11, Ryan Mayberry – 6, Evan Dotson – 5, Laythen Utke – 4
Greenfield scoring: Marcus Wright – 22, Trenton Wilson – 6, Seth Trask – 5, Sawyer Dodd – 3, Daunte Stafford – 2
