MARSHALL - The Marshall boys basketball team was so dominant in its win over visiting Pipestone Area Thursday night that not even a scoreless stretch of 7 minutes, 25 seconds to start the second half created much cause for concern.
The Tigers blew open the game in the opening minutes of the first half, took a 40-14 lead into halftime and recovered from a sluggish start to the second half on their way to an easy 67-34 Southwest Conference victory at Marshall High School.
Marshall (14-7 overall, 8-2 SWC), which blew out the Arrows by 30 in the teams' previous meeting on Jan. 13, started Thursday's game on a 10-0 run that contained back-to-back three-pointers by senior guards Mason Schnaible and Shawn Tykwinski. Tykwinski scored all 12 of his points in the first half, knocking down four threes.
Article Photos
Photo by Matt Dahlseid
Marshall’s Mason Schnaible, middle, puts up a shot between Pipestone Area’s Brady Claussen, left, and Eric Buffington during the first half of Thursday’s Southwest Conference game at Marshall High School.
"We had great ball movement right away," said Tykwinski, who hit six threes in the Tigers' loss to Mankato East on Saturday. "We had some great rhythm shots and knocked those down. And our defense was good right away, too."
Pipestone Area (2-15, 1-10) took more than four minutes to score its first points. Brady Claussen made a layup with 13:48 left in the first half, but the Arrows were never able to string any type of run together the rest of the half as they fell behind by 26.
Marshall held the Arrows to just 23.4 percent shooting from the field and forced 22 turnovers. No Pipestone Area player scored more than two baskets in the game, with senior forward Lance Johnson leading the Arrows with six points.
Fact Box
Pipestone Area (34)
A.J. Bucher 1 1-1 3, Boyer Bouman 1 2-2 4, Eric Buffington 2 1-2 5, Brady Claussen 2 0-0 4, Jacob Derby 2 0-0 4, Lance Johnson 1 4-4 6, Josh Mabon 0 3-4 3, Avery Ploeger 2 2-3 5. Totals 11 11-16 34. Three-pointers 1 Rebounds 33 (Reid Schiebout 5) Assists 8 (Derby 3) Steals 7 (Claussen 2) Blocks 1 Turnovers 22 Total Fouls 17.
Marshall (67)
Tanner Bukowski 3 5-7 11, Derek Buysse 1 2-2 5, Lee Christianson 3 1-2 8, Tyus DeBoer 3 0-0 6, Aaron Mathiowetz 2 0-2 4, Hunter Peterson 2 0-0 4, Spencer Petrich 1 0-0 2, Austin Saugstad 2 0-0 4, Mason Schnaible 3 1-1 9, Shawn Tykwinski 4 0-0 12, Alex Werner 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 9-14 67. Three-pointers 8 (Tykwinski 4, Schnaible 2) Rebounds 44 (Bukowski 7, Werner 6) Assists 16 (Saugstad 4) Steals 6 Blocks 5 (Bukowski 2, DeBoer 2) Turnovers 11 Total Fouls 15.
Halftime Score: Marshall 40, Pipestone Area 14.
The Tigers shot 40.2 percent for the game and had a balanced scoring effort, led by Tykwinski's 12 points. Tanner Bukowski added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Schnaible and Lee Christianson added nine and eight points, respectively.
With a big lead coming out of the locker room, Marshall was sloppy and sluggish to start the second half. Passes into the interior were tipped out of bounds or stolen, shots were clanking off the rim and the rhythm that was there for the Tigers in the first half was totally gone.
"We pulled the press off, and we get so much energy from our defense," said Marshall head coach Tom Critchley. "Our defense really creates our offense. We were just a little stagnant on both ends of the floor.
"They're 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids up 40-14 and they're thinking, 'Hey, I'm going to make a great play' instead of making the right play. We had to take a couple of timeouts to refocus them and said, 'Guys, just play the game. Don't play the score.' Then we started to click a little bit more."
Added Tykwinski, "We just kind of lost our focus. We needed to stay focused and treat it like the first half. It's hard when you're up 30, but you still have to play."
The Tigers didn't score a second-half point until Bukowski made a layup with 10:35 left in the game. The drought didn't matter much, as Pipestone Area only scored five points during that stretch.
Bukowski's shot settled the Tigers and they got back into their offensive flow, continuing to stretch the lead against the overmatched Arrows.
Marshall is back on the court tonight for a non-conference matchup against Sioux Falls Roosevelt in Sioux Falls, S.D. This is the seventh straight season the Tigers and Rough Riders have met, with Roosevelt holding a 4-2 edge in the matchup. The Rough Riders have won the past two meetings.
Critchley said the two teams have been developing somewhat of a border rivalry.
"It's kind of fun going there," he said. "It started when they had Cody Larson, who plays for Florida, and we beat them a couple of times. I think we got some respect that way.
"Any time you go to South Dakota, you're playing schools that have 2,100 kids 9-12 and it's going to be a good game. It's physical, it's good basketball, and that's how you improve as a team by going and playing quality opponents."