Marble Falls boys basketball earns first win of season

The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team beat Austin Navarro 52-28 Nov. 14 for the Mustangs’ first victory of the season.

“It’s always nice to come away with a win,” head coach Travis Crain said. “It was nice.”

Eight Mustangs (1-1) scored, and two were in double figures. Junior point guard Tidus Wilie dropped in 21 points, while senior guard Davis Dreisbach added 12.

The Mustangs entered this contest with several goals, especially on the defensive end. Among them were limiting Navarro to one shot per possession and controlling the rebounding. That means playing shut-down defense and not allowing the opponent to get into a rhythm.

“We play better when we create turnovers,” Crain said. “We want to get out and run and create turnovers.”

With seven lettermen back from the District 24-4A co-district championship team from a year ago, Crain knows the strengths of his players well. The Mustangs show an ability to score transition baskets when they force bad shots to get steals and they can slow the pace and work the offense.

“We have a lot of emphasis on crashing the boards,” he said. “We want to be opportunistic on offense. And we want to be in the flow and run our stuff as well. That can be a few things: transition 3-pointer or running our stuff for four or five passes. We want the best shot.

“Defensively, we’re going to get after you,” the coach added. “We are at our best when we are committed to the defensive side, either pressing or playing you in the half court and looking for the best shot available on offense. It’s our second year, we want to be more spread out. Our identity is who our players are any given year. I’m going to adapt and change and put our guys in position to be successful.”

Both subvarsities also won, so each team went to 2-0, and Crain is encouraged by what he’s seeing from them.

“They’re competing, they’re learning,” he said. “The future is bright.”

As he reflected back on the varsity win, the positives were obvious.

“To have that (scoring) balance was nice,” the coach said. “Defensively we had some goals we were trying to reach. I know we hit some. Overall, it was a nice night.”

The Marble Falls varsity travels to play at Leander High at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, while the subvarsities compete at the Liberty Hill tournament throughout the weekend.

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