MA sweeps West Memphis

The Marshall Academy Patriots got in the win column November 17 after opening the season against much larger schools.

MA cruised to a 70-22 win over West Memphis Christian (Ark.) at home.

“We needed a game like that,” coach Craig Dailey said about the easy win over the Knights after three losses to start the 2020-2021 campaign.

“Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug. It felt good to be the windshield.” The Patriots stormed to a 25-10 lead over West Memphis after one quarter. Walker Sanders scored nine in the first and Rusty Bolden six.

The lead ballooned to 4117 at halftime, and in the second half the Knights only scored five points to the Patriots’ 29.

Scoring in double digits for Marshall were Jordan Bonds with 13 and Larkin Bowman with 12.

On Monday of last week, the Patriots were on the short end of 64-39 score at Bayou Academy. They were down by just four follow-

ing the opening period, but the Colts outscored them 20-9 in the second and 17-7 in the third.

“Bayou had a good, long 1-3-1 zone and our skills and basketball IQ just weren’t ready for it,” Dailey said. “Not getting to do much summer work due to COVID and me coming in new is showing up right now. We just need some time in the gym.”

Aaron Pilcher was the only Patriot scoring in double digits versus Bayou. He had 10. Bonds followed with nine.

MA Lady Patriots The Marshall girls also defeated West Memphis and lost at Bayou. A huge third quarter propelled coach Jeremy Ervin’s squad to a 59-32 victory over the Lady Knights November 17 at home. The Lady Patriots trailed 24-22 at halftime, but outscored the visitors 23-2 in the third. MA, which upped its record to 4-2, enjoyed a balanced offensive attack in the win.

Evelyn Greer and Karah Nicholson had 10 points each, while Hallie Turner, Kylie Gurley and Christa Schultz all contributed nine each.

Coach Ervin said his team’s outside shooting has a lot of room for improvement, and he’s sure that will come soon.

“But even when it does, we’re not going to be an offensive juggernaut.” Defense is the key to success, he said. “We buckled down on defense against West Memphis,” Ervin said. “We have to make that a constant, nightly thing. Mainly because that’s what opposing coaches hate to go against — a tough, scrappy team that will lock down, get stops and not be a pushover. We have to be a tough-minded team and a physically tough team, and we definitely have the ability to do that, and that’s the kind of identity we need to have.” On Monday, Nov. 17, the Lady Patri- ots traveled to Cleveland to face Bayou and fell 56-29.

They were down 34-14 at halftime and couldn’t recover.

Kailyn Smith scored nine for MA. “We didn’t come out of the locker room ready to play,” Ervin said. “They were a very quick team that shot the ball well, so a lot of credit to them, but we seemed to have a lack of effort that night. “That’s something we have to remedy. With our schedule, we can’t just have random nights out of nowhere where no effort is shown.” The MA boys (1-3) hosted Delta Streets on Thursday of last week and then played on Monday and Tuesday of this week in the New Albany Turkey Tournament. Next Tuesday, Dec. 1, the Lady Patriots and Patriots visit Tunica Academy.