NEW GLARUS — Without a consistent attack from deep, the Glarner Knights will have to try to win games moving to the basket. With strong play from big men Mason Martinson and Dain Walter and the slashing abilities of guards Nathan Streiff, AC Strok and Darris Schuett, New Glarus has enough to contend with and beat some of the best teams in the Capitol Conference.
Except when turnovers are thrown into the mix, as was the case in the second half of a 56-51 loss to Marshall Dec. 14.
The largest lead of the game for New Glarus came in the first half at three. Marshall led 26-25 at the break, and the Knights led for the last time at the 17:04 mark in the second half when Walter scored on a putback to put New Glarus ahead 29-28.
Marshall’s Craig Ward went off to open the second half and put his team in the lead. Ward scored the Cardinals’ first eight points in just 2 ½ minutes — hitting two big 3s along the way. Turnovers plagued the Knights throughout the half, from traveling at the start of a dribble, to sloppy passes that overshot its target and wound up in the bleacher.
“You can’t string together a couple of turnovers in a row — especially in a game like this when it comes down to every possession. We’d have loved to have a few of those possessions back at the end of the game,” said Travis Sysko, Knights coach. “Taking care of the basketball has kind of been our Achilles heel this year. It’s not always the pressure that’s doing it — we make mistakes and we have to clean that up.”
Marshall’s lead hit seven with 8:11 to play when 6-5 forward Reid Truschinski hit a pull-up 3 from the top of the key to make it 47-40. A 9-3 run but the Knights brought the deficit to within a point with 2:38 to go, but Marshall was able to grind out the clock from there.
“We didn’t get the ball to go down for us — we didn’t have a good percentage from the 3-point line. Dribble-drive, we knocked down an open shot once in a while — that was good. We could have used one of those down the stretch, but it wasn’t there for us tonight,” Sysko said.
Much of Walter’s team-leading 19 points came on put backs. He finished with 13 rebounds.
“Dain had a nice game for us tonight. He’s somebody that other teams have to plan for — he’s a big strong kid in the middle,” Sysko said. “He’s getting better each night and he’s doing some great things for us right now. We just need to figure out how to gel together and incorporate him more into what we’re doing and getting more efficient on offense.”
Streiff had 11 points and Martinson 9. New Glarus hit 6 of 12 free throws, though the Knights were 5 of 6 in the second half. Ward’s 22 points paced Marshall, with Truschinski adding another 11.
New Glarus was slated to play at Cambridge Dec. 17 and then at rival Belleville Dec. 22. The last game for the Knights before the New Year is a Dec. 29 matchup at Brodhead.
“We’ve got two games here before Christmas, so we’ve got to clean up some things quick, like our ball control and hopefully get some things going for us before Friday night,” Sysko said.
