Marion blasts Massac County after loss to Cahokia

METROPOLIS -- The Marion High School boys basketball team rebounded from a tough loss by crushing a good Massac County squad, 57-34, on the road Saturday night.
On Friday, the Wildcats jumped out to a huge lead against Cahokia but lost 75-69 in overtime to fall to 0-2 in South Seven Conference games. Cahokia entered the game with an 0-5 record.
Marion improved to 3-5 overall with Saturday's win over Massac County, which shared the Du Quoin Tip-Off Classic title and handed Murphysboro its first loss on Friday.
The Patriots (4-2) had won four straight since losing to Cairo in their opener and held an early 7-3 lead on Marion before the Wildcats erupted for a 31-4 run.
That stretch started with 11 straight points capped by a tip-in from Mitchell Jackson and two free throws by Rayzhaun Bardo. Jackson Connor had four straight to make it a 17-2 run and five straight from Frankie Horner gave Marion a 27-11 at the half.
The surge continued after the break as Bardo scored the first basket and Hunter Campbell had five in a row to make it 34-11 and give Marion a 23-point lead.
Massac stopped the big run, but the Wildcats continued to expand the margin.
A bucket from Boston Ziegler made it 38-14 and a putback from Cavan Cameron made it 42-17. The largest lead was 31 points at 52-21 on a bucket from Ziegler early in the fourth.
Ziegler led the Wildcats with 14 points and Connor had 12. Campbell had 11 with a big second half and at least four points came from Bardo, Jackson, Cameron and Horner in the rout.
A night earlier, Marion led the Comanches 19-2 after the first quarter -- Connor scored the Wildcats' first 11 points -- and were up 42-24 at halftime. The Comanches pulled to within 48-47 at the end of the third period.
The Wildcats led 57-49 with just under five minutes left but the Comanches tied it at 60 to force overtime.
Keaton Higgins didn't score in the first half but finished with 24 points for the Comanches. Cortez Brown had 11 of his 22 points in the second quarter.
Connor scored 28 points to lead all scorers. Horner added 14 points and Campbell had 10. Ziegler added seven and Jackson had six. Freshmen Bardo and Venson Newsom both chipped in two points.
The Wildcats have two home games this coming weekend, first with Belleville Althoff on Friday and then with Rantoul on Saturday.