by Jon Gambee

Martin went into its halftime locker room with a slim 25-21 lead over Gobles and coach David Curry pulled his son, Tanner, aside and talked to him like a dutch uncle.

“I told him he had to get stronger inside, to take the ball to the basket and use his strength inside. He had to pick up his scoring,” Curry said. “And he responded.”

Curry, who had only two points at halftime, scored 19 in the second half, including five of five from the free throw line, as Martin pulled away for a 61-51 victory.

“Gobles is a good team,” the Martin skipper said. “We match up pretty well with them but we may be a little more physical inside. And that’s what I told the team at halftime. We have to increase our pressure inside, get tougher on the boards and to attack the basket more. And that’s what we did.”

Martin also did what it had done all season long. It showed that it is a well coached, disciplined ball club, that does not panic when the other team gets close or takes a lead.

“We work on that, keeping out heads under pressure,” Curry said.

They needed that discipline Friday as the Tigers led 11-9 after the first eight minutes and tied the game at 14 two minutes into the second quarter. Gobles battled to a 32-29 lead with three minutes to play in the third quarter and it looked like the Tigers were not going to go quietly into the night.

But then Tanner Curry went to work, hitting a three to tie the game and a pair of free throws to put the Clippers ahead to stay 25 seconds later.

Martin led 41-36 going into the final eight minutes and doubled that lead by the end of the game.

Curry led all scorers with 21 points. Garrett Dill had 13 and Colton Keyzer had an even dozen.

Austin Ampey had 14 for Gobles. Pierce Vreeland had 12 and Jacob Tiller 10.

Martin ran its season record to 5-7, while Gobles slipped to 3-10.

Martin will play Tuesday, Feb. 3, at Hartford.