Mustangs knock off state-ranked Marion

MARION — Down 20-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Nixon-Smiley Mustangs (4-0) needed a spark to get things going against state-ranked Marion (3-1). The Mustangs found it on defense as they shut down the Bulldogs in the second quarter, allowing just six points as the team forced turnovers and bad shots and converted them to easy baskets.

In the end, Nixon-Smiley would be the victors, taking down Marion 56-49 to stay undefeated in district play.

“The kids just decided to play hard,” head coach Carlton McKinney said. “The first quarter, for whatever reason, we didn’t come out with the intensity that we talked about playing with. We got ourselves down. Fortunately enough for us we got back into it, the kids turned around and made some shots. We had some stops. We battled a little bit of adversity today, it wasn’t always easy, it wasn’t always pretty but we made enough plays to win.”

Marion began the second quarter with another basket, increasing their lead to 22-9 before Nixon-Smiley ran off a 20-5 run to end the half with scores from Jordan Van Auken, Jordan Lopez, Treon Fatheree and Jose Melendez. Van Auken came away with seven points in the second quarter. He finished with a team-leading 24 points.

One key strategic point McKinney made was to get Melendez down low and feed the 6-foot-3-inch forward to take advantage of the mismatch.

“It works well because we have four perimeter kids that we can put around [Melendez] that can knock down shots and create opportunities for him,” McKinney explained. “He’s gotten better at finishing on the block. When they have to defend him down there it opens up the perimeter for us. It’s an advantage when he’s playing as well as he is right now.”

The Mustangs were able to knock down three-three pointers during that run.

Nixon-Smiley’s intensity on defense did not deter, even when multiple players were in foul trouble in the second half. Marion attempted a total of 24 free throws Tuesday night, 18 of which in the second half.

“There’s going to be some questionable calls, whether they’re right or wrong it doesn’t matter we got to play through them,” McKinney said. “We want the kids not to react to whatever they perceive as a difficult or bad call. I thought we did a better job of that tonight and when we did, like I said it was just a matter of grinding it out and gutting it out.”

Marion would get within three points midway through the fourth quarter before the Mustangs were able to settle down again on defense, not allowing another field goal for the rest of the night.

“When we turned it up [on defense] and made it a little bit more difficult for [Marion], we were able to get some hands on some balls, get some deflections, get some easy run outs and when you start making easy baskets, the basket gets a little bit bigger for us and that’s what happened,” McKinney said.

The win kept Nixon-Smiley undefeated in district and tied up top with Universal City Randolph while Marion moved to third place with their 3-1 record. The Mustangs host Hallettsville (2-2) tonight with tipoff set at 7:15 p.m.

District 27-3A                         

            W        L          %

Nixon-Smiley  4          0          1.000

UC Randolph   4          0          1.000

Marion 3          1          0.750

Schulenburg    3          1          0.750

Hallettsville     2          2          0.500

Luling  0          4          0.000

Stockdale        0          4          0.000

Yoakum           0          4          0.000