The Marathon boys basketball team controlled the pace from the jump, took an early lead and never let up to beat Groton 56-36 in the consolation game of the Tom Neugebauer Holiday Tournament Friday at Cortland Junior-Senior High School.
Both teams were coming off a loss in the first round. Marathon fell to Homer 56-42 on Thursday and Groton lost to Cortland 56-34. It was also the second meeting of the season between the teams, with the Olympians prevailing 63-51 at Groton on Dec. 15.
Marathon wasted no time taking a lead. Bode Carter and Austin Poth each knocked down a 3-pointer in the first quarter, Jake Byron and Zach Birdsall each scored four points and Bryce Hartman scored two. The Olympians also shut down Groton, holding it to just four points with two coming from the free throw line.
Marathon did not slow down in the second quarter as it continued to get looks it liked converted whether it was a shot from the perimeter or the paint. The Olympians gave up more than they did in the first, but it still held Groton to single digits and took a 29-11 lead into the break.
Coming into Friday’s matchup, Marathon knew it had to put Thursday’s loss behind it and set the tone early.
“We knew we couldn’t be deflated after yesterday,” Marathon head coach Jim Holland said. “Our crowd came in for us and I think that gave us a little confidence and we did what we had to do.”
The Olympians did not let up in the second half, outscoring Groton 17-9 in the third quarter to put the score out of reach.
Though Marathon fell to Homer in the first round and wanted to put that matchup behind it, that game helped in Friday’s win. The Olympians have been seeing similar approaches from opposing teams and Groton came in with the same game plan.
“We beat them before so we knew we could do that, but we’ve been going against an odd-front zone for three or four games in a row,” Holland said. “After yesterday, our guys really knew what they were doing, which is great.”
Marathon has been in several contests so far this season but has fallen short due to a bad quarter or finish. The Olympians were happy to finally get a dominant win, but know there’s more work to do.
“Finally, we get a comfortable win,” Holland said. “Overall, we’re still improving. We’ve been right in some of these games, but at times we lack a go-to guy. Our four seniors are doing a great job. Some of our younger guys are still struggling but they’re giving us good minutes.”
The Olympians had production up and down their lineup. Hartman finished with 14 points, Birdsall had 12, Camdyn Kashuba had 11, Byron and Carter had seven, Poth had three and Colton Oram had two.
Trenton Walker led Groton with nine points, Dom Mackey had seven, Conor Eldred had five, Nick Karandeyev and Carmelo Riley-Israel each had four, Jaiden Mitchell and Michael Lane had three and Sean O’Brien added a point.
Carter was selected to the all-tournament team for Marathon and Mackey was selected for Groton.
Marathon plays again at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Spencer-Van Etten. Groton plays again at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Odessa-Montour.
