Martin set up a showdown next Friday with Bloomingdale for the SAC Divisional title by taking a 51-32 over Decatur and improving its league record to 7-1.

Both Martin and Bloomingdale have one loss in their division and the Cardinals prevailed in their earlier meeting this season by a single point. And this Friday the Clippers will have the home court advantage.

Martin turned around an exceptionally forgettable performance against Kalamazoo Christian Tuesday, despite starting slowly. The Clippers and Raiders were tied 11-11 at the end of the first period before Martin took a 28-21 advantage at intermission.

“We methodically turned the tide and were able to tie it up by the end (of the opening quarter) and then started to gradually pull away the further we got into the game,” said coach David Curry. “Decatur’s defense was solid and much improved from when we played them the first time around.

“We showed great patience on the offensive end and were able to go in at the half up by seven.”

Matt MacVean scored 10 of Martin’s 17 points in the second period.

“Although he is content on being the floor general most of the time, he showed tonight he can score when he has the opportunity,” Curry said. “His defense was outstanding again tonight and he was able to create a lot of turnovers as a result.”

The Clippers’ defense turned in an excellence performance in the second half, keeping Decatur’s offense off balance as they struggled to get quality looks like they did in the first half. The Raiders managed only 11 points in the entire second half.

“Our offense continued to move the ball well and get good quality shots, which enabled us to double our lead by the end of the third,” Curry noted. “The fourth was much of the same on both ends of the floor and we were able to handle their full court press with great decisions from everybody on the floor when the ball was in their hands.
“I thought we did a really good job of taking what they were giving us tonight. We were not forcing the pace and was content on running the offense if there was nothing there on the break. We didn’t try to dribble between two and three defenders like we sometimes try to do. Overall it was a great team effort on both ends of the floor.

The coach added that sophomore forward Carter Hilton didn’t score as much as he usually does but probably had his best defensive game so far this year.

Tanner Curry dropped in 20 points to lead Martin, MacVean finished with 12 and Andrew Boss 10. Hilton had 6.

MaVean and Tanner Curry both had four assists. Tanner Curry also had 15 rebounds and now is just two shy of 1,000 career rebounds.

Martin now is 10-7 overall on the season.

PHOTO: Matt MacVean