Posted 02/06/16
by Anthony Mazur

     Marcus boys basketball (ranked 9th in District 6-6A) lost to Plano (ranked 8th) last night after having problems with missing layup opportunities and fouling. At the end of the first quarter, the Marauders were only down by five points. Plano was ahead 8-3. At the half, the deficit more than doubled to 11, with the Wildcats up 28-17. Marcus tried to close the gap in the next quarter, ending the third down 36-27. The final was 47-43, Plano. The fourth quarter especially was heated, with both teams yelling for calls to be made. At the very end, Marcus head coach Clay Cody called a timeout in the final seconds, resulting in an uproar as the Marauders had already used all of their timeouts. Marcus ended up with a foul against them.
     “I thought we played hard,” Coach Cody said. “We missed layups early on in the game [which] got us in a hole.”
     Cody explained the entire year had been difficult.
     “It’s been a year full of adversity for the guys so I’m really proud of them for continuing to stay the course,” he said.
     Coach Cody was not too concerned with the fouls called against his team throughout the game, which often gave Plano an advantage.
     “[The referees] called it like they said they were going to call it, which was tight,” Cody said. “As long as it was tight both ways, there’s not much you can complain about.”
     Plano’s head coach Dean Christian was pleased the way his team played as well.
     “I was pretty pleased with our performance,” Christian said.
     Coach Christian commended Marcus for their efforts, and explained beating them was a big deal.
     “They’re well coached,” Christian said. “They’re a good ball club and they play really well at home, so to get a victory in here, on the road in our district, is huge.”
     Christian was not concerned with any calls either.
     “I’m not really concerned,” he said. “The refs are doing the best job that they can. There is always going to be a discrepancy or dispute in a closely fought game like this. I’d just like to commend [Coach Cody’s] players for coming back and fighting all the way through.”
     Coach Christian thought that Marcus displayed a lot for willpower throughout the game, and said he thought that was special. Marcus’ Coach Cody is still looking forward to the season’s last few games and getting ready for next year.
     “We still got two more games,” Cody said. “We’re going to try and win both those games and we got some really good young kids so we’re going to get those guys ready for next year.”


All photos from the game can be found here.