Martin Wednesday night earned an important victory and a berth in the Class D district tournament finals by registering a 57-43 victory over tourney host Battle Creek St. Phillip.
The Clippers, now 13-9 on the season overall, face a daunting task at 6 p.m. Friday in taking on a Bellevue team that is 21-1 on the season overall.
Martin started somewhat slowly against St. Phillip, but took the lead in the second quarter with a 13-6 run to up 21-16 at intermission and gradually pulled away afterward.
“It was a great game from the get-go,” observed coach David Curry. “St Phil is a disciplined, good shooting team. They jumped out to the early lead… I thought defensively we were playing pretty well; we just needed to contest their shots more because they are very good shooters if they get their feet set.
“On the offensive end they were playing a 2-3 zone and trying to keep a guy in front and behind Tanner to make sure he didn’t get the ball in the post. Cayden (Curry) and Matt (MacVean) did a great job of attacking the rim and also knocking down some threes to keep them off balance.”
The freshman Curry and senior point guard MacVean combined for 19 of the Clippers’ first half points, with Cayden scoring 12.
“To hold them to 16 points in the first half is a testament to how well our defense was able to keep them off balance,” the coach said. “We also did a great job of controlling the tempo and boxing out to give them minimal chances to score. ”
In the third quarter, senior Tanner Curry, Martin’s leading scorer and rebounder all season long, made the necessary adjustments to get more involved offensively. He came out and scored 10 of the Clippers’ 15 third quarter points and they maintained a six-point advantage going into the final eight minutes.
“St Phil came out and tried to turn up the heat by pressing us and got us to turn the ball over to get it (the difference) to 4,” Curry said. “That was as close as they would get. We again controlled the tempo and were very patient on the offensive end. We moved the ball well and made that one extra pass to get easy buckets. They fouled often and we knocked down all but two (free throws) in the last four minutes to continue building on our lead.”
It was a particularly satisfying win for Martin in an up-and-down season.
“Tonight we played some of the best team basketball that we have all year,” the coach said. “Our defense was stellar with our guards really putting tremendous ball pressure on them to keep them from getting in the lane and they really closed out quick to keep them from knocking down the threes they normally knock down. We controlled the boards and limited their second chances.
“Cayden really played a great game on both ends of the floor. His defense was outstanding and his ability to attack the rim offensively gave a lot of offensive pressure to their defense. He really made a lot of great decisions.”
Tanner Curry paced the offensive attack with 21 points and 14 rebounds, brother Cayden had 17 points and MacVean 10. Sophomore Carter Hilton also gathered eight rebounds and Tanner Curry dished out four assists.
