Marble Falls boys basketball beats Navarro
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior guard Tidus Willie leads the Mustangs to their first win of this season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School boys basketball team crushed Austin Navarro 63-34 Nov. 12.
“I’m just real excited for our team to get their first one of the season,” new head coach John Berkman said. “But also I’m excited for the energy that was brought to the gym by fans and everybody on our team. Whether they were in the game or not in the game, everybody was excited on the bench.”
The Mustangs (1-1) began the game on fire, hitting their first 8 shots to build a 19-6 advantage. By the end of the first period, Marble Falls led 21-9.
“It’s great to get off to a fast start,” Berkman said. “You want to be locked in and ready to go from the very start. If you’re making shots right off the bat, that tells you a lot about your team. They’re focused, they’re locked in, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do to get ready to shoot and to make good passes, to put people in position to score. So that’s a great sign for us to start the game that way.”
In addition to winning the game, the Mustangs outscored the Vikings in every quarter: 12-8 in the second, 18-11 in the third, and 12-6 in the fourth.
The Mustangs’ dominant performance can be attributed to the three factors.
First is how Berkman used senior forward Garen Jones. Jones, who has always moved well without the ball, went to high post, low post and around the perimeter where he had the option of driving to the basket, taking long jumpers or passing to a teammate.
“He’s very versatile as an athlete and a skill player,” Berkman said. “He can shoot from outside. He can go to the rack really well. He can see the floor well when he slows down and plays under control for us. It’s one of those deals where we don’t have to have him shoot it every time. The ball going through his hands is good for us, because when it happens to go through him, everybody turns and looks. Because if you don’t, he’s going to go right by you. And so he attracts a lot of attention, which is great for our team, because it opens up our other players.”
Second, sophomore Beckett Berkman and senior Tidus Willie split time at point guard. The two work well together with both showing equal comfort running the point or moving to shooting guard. Because Navarro had to respect Willie’s ability to drive to the basket, the Vikings gave him space. And he made them pay by hitting long jumpers or quick baskets. Meanwhile the younger Berkman showed he is more than capable of hitting long jumpers anywhere on the court and used his court vision to set up his teammates for quick scores.
“We don’t have to worry about getting the ball to one single person,” the coach said. “We want to go quick. And if we can get out and run, we want to run. And that allows us to be able to do that. But it also helps that we have Roman Brown run the point some, too, and can handle the ball. He made some phenomenal plays passing the ball. Having three guys that can handle the ball and are confident against some pressure is huge. Not very many teams have that luxury, and we just happen to be one of them, so we’re fortunate to have them.”
Willie led with 21 points followed by Jones with 14, Beckett Berkman added 11, senior Isaiah Lazos with 5, senior Reed Lewis scored 4, senior Jackson Trudeau and junior Cameron Plumlee each dropped in 3, and senior Brenton Liscum finished with 2.
The elder Berkman noted that having three capable ball handlers allows the Mustangs to push the tempo of the game.
“We want to go quickly when we can,” he said. “We know that transitions are great opportunities to score baskets. We want to take advantage of that with multiple guys. They can handle the ball, but with our speed, we’ve got a lot of guys who can get down the floor in a hurry. If we constantly do that against teams, we’re going to put the pressure on them, and they’re scrambling to get back, and maybe we’re a little harder to defend.”
The win also gave John Berkman his first victory as the Mustangs head coach.
“The first one of a new era is always good when you’re taking over a program and you’re trying to build something new,” he said. “I’m excited to get the first win because you want to know that it’s working. I feel like we’re going in the right direction and getting the win helps that feeling for sure.”
Marble Falls welcomes Austin Eastside Friday, Nov. 15, with the subvarsities playing at 5 p.m. and the varsity at 6:30 p.m.
