COLONY — The Crest High School Lancers remain near the top of the Three Rivers League standings after handily defeating Marmaton Valley 64-48 Friday.
The Lancers extended their win streak to seven games after jumping out to an early lead thanks to a 9-point surge from junior guard Xander Fuller, who scored a team-leading 19 points in the winning effort.
“Our offense has driven us all season long, and I feel like they did that again tonight,” Crest coach Dakota Sporing said. “They played well. They connected and knocked down the open shots.
“There was a little stretch before halftime, where we were discombobulated, but we fixed that and we took off from there.”
Crest scored an astounding 23 points in the first quarter. Along with a trio of free-throws, Fuller also netted a pair of 3-pointers.
Lane Yocham, a junior guard, also hit a pair of 3-pointers for Crest.
Despite a 9-point first quarter from MVHS senior Tyler Lord, as well as an 8-point second quarter by senior Steven Morrison, the Wildcats could not close the early gap.
After double-digit scoring in the first three quarters, the Wildcat offense went cold in the fourth with only eight points coming by way of Lord with a pair of buckets and a pair of free-throws, as well as a bucket from sophomore forward Kaden McVey.
“Marmaton Valley did some very good things tonight,” Coach Sporing said. “They did some things we had not seen on film. We even watched one of their games live and didn’t see it. They came out and had a good game plan. They were ready to go and our boys adjusted well.”
Along with Fuller’s 19 points, the Lancers had three other players reach double-digit scoring. Yocham had 16 points, sophomore guard Kole Walter had 14 and Prasko scored 11.
For MVHS, Lord had a team-leading 15 points, followed by McVey and Morrison with 8 points each.
With the win, the Lancers improved to 7-1 and 4-1 in the Three Rivers League with their only loss coming in the season opener to Southeast.
Marmaton Valley falls to 4-5 and 3-3 in the TRL. The Wildcats host Jayhawk-Linn Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 20 minutes after the conclusion of the 5:30 p.m. girls’ contest.
“We definitely have things to work on, and peak at the right time,” Sporing said. “We have things to shore up, especially on the defensive end, but on the offensive end we can reach some of the goals we set at the beginning of the year.”
