DES MOINES — The plays in between the margins meant the different for the Marshalltown boys’ basketball team on Friday night.
Will Swartz gave the Bobcats the lead for good with a hustle play that resulted in a pair of free throws, and Marshalltown held off Des Moines East over the final three minutes to collect its first win, 43-36.
Kyle Smith got a steal and took the ball to the basket for a layup attempt that missed the mark, but Swartz was on the spot to pull down the rebound. He was fouled trying for the putback but made both free throws for a 37-36 Bobcat lead with 2:44 left to play.
Jamison Niehouse made it stand up by knocking down his third 3-pointer of the game, and 3-of-4 free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the first victory for MHS (1-2).
“He did a nice job defensively tonight, he played hard, and that’s what it takes,” Bobcat head coach Michael Appel said of Swartz. “He made two big free throws down the stretch when he didn’t give up on that play. He hustled down and got that offensive rebound and got fouled so that was big. You need those effort plays, you need guys that are gonna hustle and understand that’s a way to impact games and help us win as well.”
Marshalltown led 29-28 before back-to-back 3-pointers by Smith — his first points of the game — made it 35-28. Des Moines East (2-0) answered with the next eight points, including consecutive 3-pointers by Damarius Parker and Abel Mikele, to take a 36-35 lead.
The Scarlets didn’t score again as Marshalltown’s tallied the game’s final eight points for the win.
“Give them credit, I thought Des Moines East did some things to speed us up and make it tough for us to run offense at times, but guys battled through that and did a much better job in the second half of finding ways to get the ball in the hole,” Appel said.
Jacob Hayes led the Bobcats with 11 points and eight rebounds on the night, while Niehouse finished with nine points on three 3-pointers. Smith added seven points, seven rebounds and three steals after an off-night shooting.
“Jamison was big, he did a nice job tonight, knocked down some shots,” Appel said. “If Kyle doesn’t score, that hurts us and you could see with the final score tonight we didn’t score a lot. But we hang our hats on defense and getting stops and holding teams.
“A goal we have is to hold teams to under 12 points a quarter and for the most part I think we did that every quarter tonight. If you can do that your chances are pretty good to win a lot of games.”
Drake Gersema piled up six points, eight rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots, and LaMar Johnson added six points. Swartz and Adam Boone both chipped in two points, with Swartz blocking two shots.
Damarius Parker scored 15 points and D’Angelo Parker had 14 to lead Des Moines East.
The Bobcats go back out on the road Tuesday for a game at Des Moines Hoover.
Marshalltown 43, Des Moines East 36
MARSHALLTOWN (1-2) — Jamison Niehouse 3 0-0 9, Drake Gersema 2 2-2 6, Kyle Smith 2 1-2 7, LaMar Johnson 1 4-4 6, Jacob Hayes 4 1-2 11, Adam Boone 1 0-0 2, Will Swartz 0 2-2 2, Arion Hancock 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 10-12 43.
DM EAST (0-2) — Damarius Parker 7 1-4 15, Abel Mikele 1 2-4 5, Malik Williams 0 0-0 0, D’Angelo Parker 6 1-7 14, Tayte Warren 0 0-0 0, Teaghan Warren 0 0-2 0, Cedrique Irishura 0 0-0 0, Craig Farley 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 4-17 36.
MHS 9 12 8 14 — 43
DM EAST 7 7 12 10 — 36
3-Point Goals–MHS 7 (Niehouse 3, Smith 2, Hayes 2), DME 2 (Mikele, D’A. Parker). Team Fouls–MHS 18, DME 16. Fouled Out–Niehouse.