Marshall balance knocks Belle Plaine out of Top Ten

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last night, or late afternoon I guess, the Marshall Tigers went into Belle Plaine for a 5:30 tip and pretty much pulled the recently 8th ranked Tigers (the red and black Belle Plaine version) right out of the top ten with a controlling 76-63 victory. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>How did the Tigers pull this off? We explain now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first thing that Marshall did was play the entire Belle Plaine line-up steady. If [player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] gets his 30, he gets his 30, and he did (31 points actually). That said, the red/black Tigers have been winning games because they have been more balanced with Logan Anderson, [player_tooltip player_id='2792633' first='Caden' last='Koepp'], [player_tooltip player_id='2848167' first='Mason' last='Manthe'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2509586' first='Landon' last='Wadsley'] combining for nearly 49 points a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last night the orange/black Marshall Tigers held that supporting group of four to only 27 points. Manthe didn't play which was of course another factor but Anderson Koepp and Wadley weren't able to affect the game enough for Belle Plaine to have the needed balance to win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Also, [player_tooltip player_id='2118474' first='Ethan' last='Martin'] got his 31 points but there were two stretches during the game that not only did a lid seem to be on the basket for the River Falls commit, it was like he was having to move through two guys and some length to score what he did. Marshall made Ethan work for his total. [player_tooltip player_id='2417567' first='Oliver' last='Voigt'] did a great job getting his 6'7 length to Martin and [player_tooltip player_id='2121365' first='JR' last='Vierstraete'] used his strength to keep things physical and uneasy. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Offensively, this was a big game for 6'1 senior Levi Maeyaert. Levi had two different scoring runs that seemed to force the red/black Tiger bench into hands on hips, eyes to the scoreboard pain. His back to back threes in the first half were big, and the second half rim scores were also key as was a three that ended a home team run.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Six-foot-2 junior [player_tooltip player_id='2842760' first='Andrew' last='Lee'] of Marshall also made a big impact, including a key second half stretch that included a triple right in front of his excited home team bench (hey bench, maybe hold on to your Gatorade bottles here and there?). Belle Plaine had a difficult time moving with the first Lee dribble as well as getting to his shot to contest him.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Voigt played an all around game scoring his twelve, grabbing his share of boards, moving the ball intelligently, and playing solid defense getting a hand to Martin. A skilled 6'6/6'7 player that moves solid and plays a smart game. Fellow sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='2438267' first='Noah' last='Pieper'] had a solid game scoring ten points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Marshall improved to 12-11 win the win. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->