James Mathew leads a balanced attack to beat Marshall

By Team Reports Feb 20, 2024, 6:28am

Recap: Chillicothe Hornets vs. Marshall Owls

The Chillicothe Hornets came tearing into Friday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.2 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down Marshall 62-47. Given Chillicothe's advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 65th, while Marshall is ranked 368th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Chillicothe's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but James Mathew led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 22 points and nine rebounds. Mathew has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last ten times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jaishon White, who almost dropped a double-double on 14 points and nine rebounds.

Marshall lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Stephen Caviness, who scored 16 points along with five rebounds. Caviness has been hot recently, having posted 16 or more points the last four times he's played. Chase Thompson was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.

Marshall used a slightly different lineup for their bout with Chillicothe. Three players got more time on the court than they're used to: Blaine Jones (eight), Charles Raney (five), and Kane Viquesney (ten). The trio had averaged 3.96, 1.46, and 3.71 minutes respectively before Friday's game. Viquesney made the most of the opportunity, scoring five points. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.

Chillicothe is on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season. As for Marshall, they dropped their record down to 9-15 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight at home.

Chillicothe will take on Cameron at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Chillicothe is facing Cameron at the right time seeing as Cameron is stuck on a seven-game losing streak. As for Marshall, they will head out on the road to face off against Kirksville at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Marshall focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up six on Friday.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps