Monarchs Tame Bears
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MOUNDSVILLE - With a three-game road trip starting Saturday at Bellaire, John Marshall head boys' basketball coach Chad Clutter wanted to make sure his team took care of business at home first.
Mission accomplished.
The debuting Monarchs broke out to a 15-7 advantage after the first eight minutes and never looked back in rolling past visiting Oak Glen, 77-40, inside the Moundsville Junior High Fieldhouse.
"Seventy-seven points and the fact that everyone got in the scorebook is just fine," a pleased Clutter said. "These kids don't care who scores how many points. We had 20 assists on 25 baskets. All they want to do is win."
Cody Hartman scored the eight points of the first 10 points of the game to get John Marshall off to a fast start. The hosts led 15-7 after one quarter.
A 25-6 margin in the second eight minutes bumped the halftime lead to 40-13 as Brennan Sobutka went for 11 of his team-high 20 points in the quarter. He was 7-for-8 from the free throw stripe in the spurt and 10-for-12 for the game, all of the damage coming in the first three quarters.
Behind Sobutka's marksmanship, the Monarchs tickled the twine on 19 of 24 free throws, which included four from a pair of technical fouls on the Golden Bears (0-2).
"We shot well from the foul line, as well," Clutter added. "We can put the ball in the basket."
He was also pleased with the defensive effort he received, as well as rebounding.
"We held them to 13 points in the first half, so we played well defensively. We also outrebounded them by a good margin."
When asked if there was anything he didn't like about the opener, he replied, "we didn't take a charge. We'll have to work on that."
"They were long and lanky ... we're facing a lot of teams that will be faster and stronger than us," Oak Glen head coach Jerry Everly said of John Marshall. "We're battling. We're just trying to get better every day. We've got a lot of young guys."
In addition to Sobutka's 20 points, Hartman added 13. Tyke Muldrew came off the bench to score nine and grab four rebounds. Roman Gray finished with seven points and a like number of boards as the Monarchs held a commanding 40-14 advantage off the glass.
Oak Glen charted 20 turnovers, with 14 coming before halftime. JM had a dozen.
Following Saturday's game at Bellaire, John Marshall treks to Magnolia on Tuesday and then to Weir next Friday before returning home to host rival Wheeling Park on Dec. 20.