by Jon M. Gambee

Martin fell behind early Friday at Galesburg, but unlike the game Tuesday at Delton, the Clippers battled back to take a 61-34 victory against the Rams.

Galesburg jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but Coach David Curry called a timeout and his Clippers got their act together and scored eight straight points to trail by only three at the end of the first quarter.

Martin did not let up in the second quarter, outscoring Galesburg 14-4 to take a 22-15 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“It looked as though we were in for another long night as we started the game down 11-0,” Curry said, “but things changed after a timeout and we went on a 8-0 run. The momentum carried over into the second quarter as we added 10 more and we finished the first half outscoring them 22-4.”

Martin had its best quarter after the break, outscoring Galesburg 25-15 in the third quarter and finished up with another 10-point advantage, outscoring the Rams 14-4 down the stretch.

Tanner Curry led Martin in scoring with 14 points and freshman Carter Hilton added 13. Garrett Dill finished with 11 and Andrew Keyzer added 9.

“The key to our success was a couple of things,” Curry said. “First of all we didn’t lay down after the bad start like we did on Tuesday. The second factor was our defense was very, very good. Andrew Keyzer had a stellar game all around, but his defense was what stood out above all. He was the one that, for the most part, was in charge of shutting down their shooter Zack Reisterer.”

Reisterer started the game with three straight threes followed by a two pointer to give GA their 11-0 lead. The only other point he scored was a free throw in the fourth.

Hilton led the team with eight rebounds. Curry finished with six and August Settler also had six. Dill led the team with six assists.

“Our entire team played their tails off defensively and Galesburg wasn’t able to do much against us,” Curry said. “Once we made our adjustments on defense, after that run, they really started to struggle offensively. I’m proud of the entire team.

“We were able to lean on our bench to get our first group some breathers to keep them fresh. They did a great job and we didn’t miss a beat as a team.”

Martin ran its season record to 6-3 overall and the Clippers are a perfect 4-0 in its SAC division.

Martin will host Lawton on Tuesday and travel to Marcellus on Friday.