The Morton Indians and Maidens traveled to face each respective Seagraves team in district basketball matchups this past Thursday, with the Indians winning 6348, and the Maidens winning 45-35.
The Indians win improves them to 8-14 overall and 3-3 in district play, which puts them tied for third in the 2A District 5 standings. The district win was crucial because had they lost, they would’ve been on the outside of the top four, losing ground on potentially making the playoffs. The Indians knew the stakes and rose to the occasion, dominating the game. In the team statistics, the Indians bested Seagraves 42% to 33% on field goal shooting, 56% to 40% from the free throw line, 8-6 in three-pointers made, 13-2 in transition points, 26-10 in points off turnovers, 28-24 in points in the paint, 17-9 in assists, 14-4 in steals and they also won the turnover margin by 12.
The only notable category that Seagraves took was rebounding, which makes sense because the Indians outshot them by such a wide margin.
“Great team win to finish up the first half of district play,” Indians Head Basketball Coach Andrew Brockman said. “We played good defense and shot well on the road versus a very athletic and experienced Seagraves team. Now we turn the page to the second half of district and hope to put together some more wins and earn our trip to the playoffs.”
If they play like they did against Seagraves, the playoffs won’t be a problem as they had four players in double- figures.
Standouts for the Indians included EJ Rivas with 18 points on 8/13 shooting from the field, four steals, three assists and two rebounds, Britton Boggs with 16 points powered by three three-pointers made, adding five rebounds, four steals and two assists, Brayden Villarreal with 13 points on 5/9 shooting, adding four rebounds, two steals and an assist, and Travion Holland with 10 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and a steal.
On the Maidens side of things, the win improves them to 11-16 overall and 3-5 in district play, which puts them fifth in the 2A District 5 standings. It was a crucial result as a loss would have been detrimental to their playoff hopes.
“Overall, we had a great game. We knew that we could pressure Seagraves and that played to our advantage, getting ahead early,” Maidens Interim Head Basketball Coach Martin Adams said. “Credit to Seagraves for battling and keeping the game close. Some clutch free throws from Haylee Toscano late and some stepup performances from our younger group, due to some of our starters getting in foul trouble, allowed for a complete game and we were able to come out on top. Proud of how our ladies played hard and together.”
Scorers in the hard-fought win included Toscano with 18 points, Addy Sabala and Khloe Aguirre both with eight points, J’Lynn Marquez with five points, Ada Torres with four points and Addison Enriquez with two points.
Following both of their wins, each Morton team will be back in action early this week as they host each respective Ropes team.