Kelly O’Day
Sports Editor
The Merrill boys basketball team dropped another road Valley game after Marshfield’s late first-half run on Friday.
The Tigers pushed a tight contest to 35-25 by intermission, and held the Jays off with a four-point edge in the second half of the 60-46 win.
“Early on, through the first half of the first half, we defended well and we scored well,” MHS coach Kurt Soderberg said. “But we made a couple of mistakes and they got a couple of baskets before the half. It was pretty much even from there.
“Right now, we’re working to clean up the mental errors that are costing us. It’s not an ‘x-and-o’ thing, it’s communication, making sure we’re talking. You can’t coach everything during a game. They have to make decisions, and they can and will. They have to be helping their teammates, supporting their teammates and playing without fear.
“I didn’t think they were 14 points better than us, but clearly they were that night.”
The Jays were led by Zack Mootz (12 p), Jon Gruetzmacher (6 p, 4 r), Riley Sutton (5 p, 5 r), Austin Reissmann (7 p), Scott Wallace (4 p, 3 a), Jared Ollhoff (4 p, 3 r), Drew Hoff (6 p) and Ben Tabor (5 r).
Mer– 25 – 21 – 46. FG- 18-43 (42%), 3-pt- 6-18 (33%). FT: 4-9 (44%).
Mar– 35 – 25 – 60. FG- 26-49 (53%), 3-pt- 6-15 (40%). FT- 2-8 (25%).