On Feb.16, the Maclay Marauders varsity basketball team faced off against the Marianna bulldogs in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) regional quarterfinal. With a semifinal game on the line, Maclay played with extreme energy the entire game and never lost the lead. The Marauders won 62-27.
Maclay wasn’t able to come down with the tip off but that didn’t seem to matter as within the first minutes of the game senior Sawyer Stone was able to find an electric score along with senior Tristan Lunt.
“Everyone did their part tonight and we played as a team,” senior Blaise Wallace said. “It was a team win and we will see what’s next for us.”
The Marauders were able to take the first quarter with a score 13-6. The second quarter is when everything ramped up for the Marauders. The defense would only allow another seven points while the offense was able to add an additional 21 points to the scoreboard.
“We really relied on each other tonight, mainly on offense,” Lunt said. “But one game at a time and I’m happy with the way we played.”
The second quarter was a field day for the Maclay offense. Wallace, Lunt and senior Colin McAllister ran up the score on the Bulldogs with no intent to stop. The three combined for 16 of the 21 points that were scored in the second quarter. The score going into the half was Marauders 34, Bulldogs 13.
The second half seemed to follow the same script. The Maclay offense ran the court while Marianna was never able to catch up. Maclay was able to put up 28 more points while only allowing 14. With a 40 point lead, victory seemed inevitable for the Marauders.
“I think we played okay, we had too many turnovers in the first half but we were able to shave that number down,” head coach Gene Granger said. “We have to continue what we are doing.”
Maclay capped off the night with a 35 point win over Marianna and one of the biggest win margins of the season. Maclay will advance to play Florida High for the third time this season in hopes to beat the Seminoles for a third time in a row. They will go head to head on Tuesday at Florida High on Feb. 21 at 7:00 pm.
