Marmaton Valley boys pick up win

MORAN — Marmaton Valley High’s boys picked up their first win of the season, keyed by unselfish play and improved free throw shooting.
After missing 11 of their first 12 free throws of the night, the Wildcats still were able to gain the upper hand against visiting Jayhawk-Linn High.
Then, when the Jayhawks began fouling in their comeback attempt, Marmaton Valley was able to maintain its lead by hitting 5 of 6 charities in the final two minutes.
The 48-42 victory also marks the first career win for head coach Tim Stinnett.
“It definitely feels a lot better walking off the court with a win than it does otherwise,” Stinnett said. “This was a big win for us. The guys played together very well, and we had a lot of younger players step off the bench and contribute.”
Marmaton Valley led 14-9 after one quarter and 22-18 at the break. Jayhawk-Linn outscored the Wildcats 16-11 to lead 34-33 after three quarters.
The Wildcats (1-4) closed the game with a 15-8 run to seal the win.
Cole Becker led Marmaton Valley with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Carlos Gonzales added 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the field with four steals and two assists. Nathan Smart had seven points and five boards, while Chance Stevenson had seven points. Lucas Hamlin had two assists and Michael Genn had two steals.
Justin Mark and Ben Rowe scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, to lead the Jayhawks.
Jayhawk-Linn won the junior varsity contest 36-29. The Wildcat JV was paced by Brady Newman with 13 points and Keegan Boyd with six.
Jayhawk-Linn (9-9-16-8—42)
Marmaton Valley (14-8-11-15—48)
MV (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Becker 6-0-2-12, Gonzales 4-3-2-11, Smart 3-1-2-7, Stevenson 2/1-0-5-7, Hamlin 2-0-3-4, Ramsey 2-0-3-4, Newman 0-2-0-2, Genn 0-1-1-1. TOTALS: 19/1-7-15-48.