CENTRALIA — Though they didn't shoot the ball well from the outside, the Belleville West Maroons made up for it by owning the boards against the Salem Wildcats.
Marrkies Goodwin scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots in leading the Maroons past the Wildcats 72-39 Thursday morning in the opening game of the Centralia Holiday Tournament.
Not only did the Maroons outrebound the Wildcats 41-17, they had as many offensive rebounds (17) as the Wildcats had total rebounds.
"We hit a lot of 3's (10-for-17) on Friday night against O'Fallon, but tonight we didn't," said West coach Joe Muniz, whose team connected on only one of its 14 3-point attempts. "The kids learned one thing, and we talk about this all the time. When you shoot a lot of 3's against the zone, there are a lot of holes in the zone. So, you've got to crash the boards."
The Wildcats had no answer for the 6-foot-3 Goodwin on the inside.
"Markkies is extremely athletic, and we're able to throw the ball up by the rim and he can go get it," Muniz said. "He came to play today. That's to his credit. He's a guy that I think in our first seven games guarded a 6-8 kid or a 6-7 kid in five of them. They didn't have anybody as big or athletic as he was."
The Maroons used 14 players in the game. Twelve of them scored points.
Nick Van Osdale added 14 points, Kyle Sweeney had 11 points, and Brian Hill had six points.
The Maroons improved to 7-2. They'll play the Oak Lawn Richards Bulldogs (5-4) at 12:30 p.m. Friday in the second round of the tournament.
The Bulldogs edged Mount Vernon 47-44 Thursday on a 3-pointer by Dedrick Shannon Jr. from the top of the key with one second left.
Playing early in the morning didn't seem to bother the Maroons as they grabbed a 20-13 lead in the first quarter and then extended it to 41-18 by outscoring the Wildcats 21-5 in the second quarter.
Sweeney stole the ball under his own basket and scored at the buzzer ending the first half.
Cahokia 72, Champaign Central 54
The top-seeded Cahokia Comanches got a balanced scoring line in beating the Champaign Central Maroons.
Keenan Minor led the way with 18 points, followed by Darius Austin with 14 points, Derenzo Jennings with 11 points, Vincent Jackson with 10 points, Gary Hickman with eight points and Carleton Rivers with seven points.
Austin, a junior, also had nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
Cahokia coach Darion Nash said his team had to shake off some rust after a long layoff for Christmas.
"We've been off for 12 or 13 days, and that's why I left my starters in," Nash said. "We've got to get some continuity."
The Comanches (8-2) will play the Effingham Flaming Hearts (7-2) at 2 p.m. Friday in the second round. Effingham came back from a 25-19 halftime deficit to beat Alton 46-43 Thursday.
Kameron Rowan was the top scorer for Champaign Central with 14 points. He also had six assists and five steals.
Champaign Central struggled with the Comanches' half-court pressure. They committed 16 of their 20 turnovers in the first half.
The Comanches used an early 15-2 run that included two 3-pointers from Minor to take a 15-4 lead.
Champaign Central cut its deficit to 20-14 on a bomb by Xacier Martin from just inside the half-court line at the buzzer ending the first quarter, but the Comanches got three free throws from Jennings after being fouled on a 3-pointer at the start of the second quarter to go up 23-14.
Hickman had five points during a 10-0 rally that enabled the Comanches to stretch their lead to 33-17.
The Comanches maintained a 39-23 lead at halftime and went up by 20 points on a layup by Austin early in the third quarter.
Chicago Marist 56, O'Fallon 44
Guard L.J. McIntosh scored 24 points and guard Lexus Williams scored 14 points, registered eight steals and dished out six assists as the second-seeded Marist RedHawks beat the O'Fallon Panthers.
The RedHawks held a slim 23-22 edge at halftime, but they got three 3-pointers from Zak Niemiera in opening up a double-digit lead in the third quarter.
"We just couldn't get over the hump," O'Fallon coach Rick Gibson said. "I thought the first half we played pretty well. To be only down by one and to get the ball at the start of the second half, we felt pretty good. (Niemiera) got loose in the third quarter. We went zone, and he hit some big 3's and we missed some. That makes a difference. If we're 1-2-3 down instead of 7-8-9 ... we're a team that has a hard time going on 7-0 or 8-0 runs. We need to keep a team within striking distance."
The Panthers tried to exploit their size advantage as Charlie Harmon had 18 points and Parker Roustio had 10 points.
The Panthers (3-8) will play Memphis (Tenn.) Raleigh-Egypt at 3:30 p.m. Friday in a consolation bracket game.
"We're playing a rough, tough team, and if you lose tomorrow, you're done," Gibson said. "Hopefully, we'll be playing that third day. Our goal is to play four games, and it starts tomorrow.''
Harmon scored the Panthers' first six points in leading them out to a 6-2 lead.
The RedHawks got three 3-pointers from McIntosh in the first quarter, the final coming with one second left in the period as they took a 15-10 lead.
The RedHawks went up 20-12 when Williams banked in a 3-pointer early in the second quarter.
The Panthers trailed by as many as nine points before scoring the final eight points of the first half to close within 23-22.
The RedHawks keep the lead by hitting four 3-pointers in the third quarter. They scored the final seven points of the period to increase their advantage to 41-30.
The Panthers were never closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.
Contact reporter Steve Korte at skorte@bnd.com or 239-2522.
