The St. Vincent boys basketball team has been trying to get their feet underneath them in this early part of the season.
If there is one game that should help it would be this one.
St. Vincent buried nine three-pointers en route to a 59-42 victory over Marissa on Saturday at the Battle of thee Border Shootout at the Perry Park Center.
St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy said it was a nice bounce back victory for his team after falling to Scott City by 20 points the previous night.
“We were tied at halftime against Scott City then got outscored 33-18 in the third quarter,” Valleroy said. “It’s one of those things where if we can get on the floor, it gets us better and better. I feel like we got better today. Everyone contributed and we got some balanced scoring and played really good defense.”
It also helps when you shoot well from the outside. St. Vincent made four three-pointers in the first quarter, three from senior Payton Strattman, who finished with six made threes in the contest. The hot shooting helped St. Vincent jump out to a 20-8 lead.
“Payton really works on his shot,” Valleroy said. “He has put in a lot of work in the summer to improve his game . He’s a senior and been through the program. He has the green light to shoot the ball. We look for him and he was on fire today.”
St. Vincent was led by Strattman’s 18 points, while Colden Prost had 12 points. Wyatt Winkler had eight points, along with Max Wheeler, who battled foul trouble all game.
The good shooting helped keep the Indians afloat in the first half and well into the third quarter as Marissa cut the lead to single digits on several occasions at 40-33 after a 10-0 run with 1:20 left in the third, but could never get any closer.
“When we needed a basket, we got one and then our defensive intensity picked up again and got us control again,” Valleroy said.
The Indians pulled away in the fourth quarter outscoring Marissa 14-8 in the quarter, and had a lead as much as 16 in the quarter.
Valleroy noted that he would like to see his team play more controlled at least until they get into a groove.
“I know we like to play up and down,” Valleroy said. “Maybe we need to slow it down until we can get our basketball legs under us and pick up that intensity on defense.”
