Marshalltown Bobcats

The Bobcats ended a five-game winless skid with their best defensive effort this season in terms of points allowed, which was also a season-low point total for the Riverhawks.

Mason City won the first meeting between the teams, 64-42, in Mason City on Dec. 19.

“We had the energy going this time,” said MHS junior Kyle Smith, who led all scorers with 19 points on Tuesday. “We were helping over on the bigs more, getting it done on both sides of the floor, it was good to go out there and get a win.”

MHS (4-9) never trailed on Tuesday and limited the Riverhawks’ balanced scoring attack led by Marcele Whitner and Ty Sanchez-Evans, who each averaged 13.1 points per game coming into the contest but left the floor in Marshalltown with six and two points, respectively.

“We had to make sure they didn’t get second-chance points and just take away those easy baskets they had the first time we played them,” MHS head coach Michael Appel said. “We just did a lot better of crowding the ball in the paint, make them kick it back out and go from there. We made it really hard for them to score and took the ball out of their best players’ hands.”

The Riverhawks had something going in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run that included their first and only made three-pointer of the night by Drayden Witt with 3:31 left in the game.

Coming out of a timeout, Drake Gersema got the ball on the left wing and drained a 3-pointer to answer for the Bobcats and Mason City didn’t score the rest of the way.

“That was great,” Smith said of Gersema’s 3-pointer. “He’s learning every day, he’s going to get better and better and I just love playing with him and this team.”

Smith had 14 points at halftime, but when the Riverhawks clamped down on him, the Bobcats stepped up not just with Gersema’s 3-pointer but also clutch buckets from LaMar Johnson and Jacob Hayes to put the game out of Mason City’s reach.

“Our guys did a nice job of keeping their composure,” Appel said. “Our execution offensively was really, really good tonight and if we can keep defending like we did tonight we’ll be in good shape.”

Hayes finished with eight points, Gersema seven points and Johnson six to round out Marshalltown’s scoring.

The Bobcats are on the road Thursday against Waterloo West.

“I’m happy for the guys because of how they’re putting in the effort and focus into practice right now,” Appel said. “They’re really buying into what we’re trying to do, understanding the scout, and are just locked in every single day and working hard. These last five games before tonight we’ve just been focused on the next day, just keep stacking days and good things will happen for us.”

Marshalltown 40, Mason City 27

MASON CITY (6-5, 3-2) — Drew Hobart 1 0-0 2, Jameer Falls 0 0-0 0, Marcele Whitner 1 4-4 6, Andrew Novak 5 2-3 12, Ty Sanchez-Evans 1 0-2 2, Owen Rickers 0 0-0 0, Drayden Witt 2 0-0 5, Nathan Berkley 0 0-0 0, DeAndre Judon 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 10 6-9 27.

MARSHALLTOWN (4-9, 2-3) — Jamison Niehouse 0 0-2 0, Drake Gersema 3 0-0 7, Kyle Smith 7 1-2 19, LaMar Johnson 3 0-2 6, Jacob Hayes 4 0-0 8, Zane Moore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 1-6 40.

MASON CITY 7 7 4 9 — 27

MHS 10 8 8 14 — 40

3-Point Goals–MC 1 (Witt), MHS 5 (Smith 4, Gersema). Team Fouls–MC 10, MHS 11. Fouled Out–none.