Martin lifted its overall basketball season record to 8-5, 5-1 in its SAC Division, by getting past Eau Claire 62-54 Friday evening.

The Clippers had to overcome a bad second quarter and a 30-28 deficit at halftime to claim the victory.

“We got off to a better start tonight, but got away from what gave us early success and ended up struggling in the second quarter,” explained coach David Curry. Eau Claire didn’t do anything different, we just got away from what gave us success and started settling for shots we shouldn’t have. When we play like that we end up hurting ourselves because we are not a knock down three-point shooting team, especially when we start to rush and lose control of the tempo of the game.”

Eau Claire, on the other hand, was shooting well from behind the arc and was able to knock down five three-pointers in the second quarter, including one at the end to give them a lead going into halftime.

“We talked about staying composed and executing at the half, making sure they knew there was a lot of game left, so there was no hurry to go out and lose control of the tempo again. We did a better job of pressuring defensively and forced Eau Claire to commit some turnovers they didn’t in the first half. This gave us the opportunity on the offensive end to pick apart their zone.”

The Clippers’ big people inside, Tanner Curry and Carter Hilton, did a great job of finding each other inside for a lot of good looks around the rim.

But the coach said ultimately the game was won at the charity stripe tonight.

“The past two games we did not shoot free throws very well, but tonight it won the game for us,” Curry pointed out. “We ended up 10-11 as a team while Eau Claire was 8-18.”

Eau Claire shot 47% on its three-point attempts, making 9 of 19, narrowly edged Martin by a 38-35 margin rebounding, but the Clippers were able to force them to turn the ball over six times more than they did.

“Overall, we did not play to our potential tonight but we did come away with the win,” Curry said. “Ugly as it may have been, it’s still a win. Still very proud of the kids’ ability to play through the lows in the game and work to get the momentum going back to our side. Eau Claire’s ability to make their threes definitely kept them in the game.

Tanner Curry led Martin with  27 points and 18 rebounds. Hilton added 21
points and Andrew Boss nine. Curry also dished out five assists.

PHOTO: Carter Hilton