The Tomahawk Hatchet boys’ basketball team improved to 3-5 overall with a split in the Marathon Holiday Tournament Friday and Saturday. The Hatchets won their opener 43-39 over host Marathon in the semi-final Friday night before falling 44-39 to Newman in the championship game Saturday.
In Friday’s action, both teams traded baskets in the early going of the first, and after a free throw, Marathon led 5-4. The Hatchets went scoreless on five straight possessions, and the Red Raiders led 8-4. Tomahawk cut the lead to two, 8-6, with Marathon then leading 13-8. Tomahawk’s Jared Jarvensivu hit a three from three quarter court at the buzzer and Marathon led 13-11 after the first.
“We played well defensively in the first quarter and forced them to take contested shots. On the other end, we executed well, but did have two turnovers during our dry spell,” said THS head coach Tim Albert.
The second quarter saw both team go scoreless on their first three possessions, but then Tomahawk took a 17-15 lead with a 6-2 run. The Hatchets went scoreless on their next five possessions and Marathon tied the game at 17. The Red Raiders closed the half with a 5-2 run and led 22-19 at the half.
The Hatchets gained a 28-24 lead in the third with a 9-2 run. Marathon responded with a 6-2 run of their own and tied the game at 30-30 after three. The Hatchets had three turnovers during the Red Raider run.
“The three turnovers in a row hurt, and they took advantage of them. We responded well late and scored a basket to tie the game heading into the fourth,” Albert said.
The Hatchets started the fourth quarter with an 8-4 run and led 38-34. Marathon responded with a run of their own, and cut the lead to one, 40-39 after a Hatchet turnover. Tomahawk then scored the final three points of the game to advance to the championship game of the Marathon Holiday Tournament.
“We really played good, solid defense down the stretch,” Albert said. “We forced them to take some tough shots and rebounded very well. We could have built on our lead had we made our free throws, but we can learn from that and improve on our foul shooting in tight games.”
Against Newman, the Hatchets quickly found themselves in a shooting war.
Both teams started out the game well offensively, as Tomahawk spread the ball around and hit a couple of three’s, and after the first quarter, the game was tied 15-15.
“We did a nice job offensively in the first,” Albert said. “We moved the ball well and also penetrated well and got looks in the lane.”
In the second quarter, the offensive output slowed as both teams played very well defensively. Tomahawk outscored Newman 9-8 in the second and led 24-23 at the half.
“Our defense was really solid in the second quarter. We limited their penetration and did a very good job challenging their shooters,” Albert said. “We also did a great job of rebounding defensively.”
The Hatchets would only score two points in the third quarter as the Cardinals turned up their defensive pressure. Tomahawk had several turnovers that hurt them on the offensive end of the floor. Newman led Tomahawk 30-26 after three quarters.
“We turned it over in the third quarter, and when we did get shots, we couldn’t find the bottom of the net. Our defense kept us in the game, as we played very well on that end of the floor,” Albert said.
The Hatchets battled back in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to two several times, but Newman was able to hit four key free throws down the stretch to get the win.
“We lost to a very good team tonight,” Albert said. “The Cards play very good defense and they turned us over. We were above our turn over average tonight, and didn’t play that well on offense.”
Albert added, “I thought we played very well defensively. We limited their penetration and challenged their shooters. We also rebounded very well. We can learn from this game heading in the bulk of our conference season.”
Jordan Roessler had 15, Jared Jarvensivu had 14, Fletcher Schoone had six, and Chris Schoone and Justin Jarvensivu each had two.
Tomahawk will play at Lakeland on Friday night.