Marble Falls boys basketball beats Jarrell
CAPTION: Marble Falls boys basketball coach John Berkman and the Mustangs earn a big win against Jarrell Feb. 10. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team stomped Jarrell 61-29 Feb. 10 in District 24-4A play.
The Mustangs (11-18, 4-6) got off to a hot start thanks to junior forward Marc Barrios, who opened the scoring with a 3-pointer.
“We came out ready to go and fired up,” head coach John Berkman said. “The guys ran the floor well and just did a really good job of being ready to go. We just never looked back once we got after them early. We were able to shut them down early, and they didn’t want any part of it.”
The Mustangs took a 20-6 lead after the opening stanza thanks to dropping in four 3-pointers. They then led 38-11 at the half and 51-19 after three periods.
“Our defense has always been solid this year for the most part with the exception of a few hiccups, and so our defense has carried us,” Berkman said. “We’ve been waiting for our offense to really come along like that. And (against Jarrell) we got hot early and we just kept pushing, and it made all the difference.”
Junior guard Beckett Berkman led the Mustangs with 13 points followed by senior center Cameron Plumlee with 11, junior forward Logan Guerrero added 9 all from 3-pointers, junior forward Cooper Gray finished with 7, junior forward Colby Kitchen and Barrios each scored 5, junior forward Vance Levert and junior guard Cypress Neve each dropped in 4, and junior guard Charlie Martin finished with 3.
That many Mustangs contributing to the scoring was encouraging to the coach.
“It tells me a lot,” he said. “It says that our guys played well as a team, not just one guy scoring for us or anything like that, and I think that’s what we’ve been looking for. We obviously have to have a guy that’s our leading scorer, but you want a team where we’re sharing the ball, where we’re playing as a team and not just as an individual or a couple of individuals. I haven’t gotten the stats back yet so I don’t know the assist number, but I would bet the assist number is pretty high. I feel like this game was very well done by the guys to share the ball often and set ourselves up to be able to score with a pass, not just like 1-on-1 dribbling, or anything like that.”
Barrios’ long bomb put him at ease and allowed him to settle into a flow in the game where he played his role well and trusted his teammates to play their roles, too.
“I think that has the effect on Marc to play more calm, if you will, and not any less aggressive,” Berkman said. “Just more calm and within himself when he makes the his first one or two shots — whether it’s a three-pointer or a layup or something — and gets going early, it makes him feel better, which in turn some of our guys play better around him. Marc is one of our best just athletes as far as his length and his ability goes and so if Marc is feeling good, he’s playing more confident and that confidence that he plays with, I think, helps others to play confident as well. I think Marc has a calming effect on others when he is a little more calm and not so frustrated with himself when he’s not able to score.”
Marble Falls and Burnet (17-14, 4-6) will meet at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, in a contest that has playoff berth implications. If the Bulldogs win, they will have swept the season series and finish no worse than fourth place. If the Mustangs win, they will split the season series and the results of the final game of the regular season, which is Tuesday, Feb. 17, will determine what happens next.
The subvarsities take the court first at 5 p.m.
