With back-to-back games against the best competition Region 8-2A has to offer, the East Marion Eagles proved they are ready for the postseason with a pair of key victories.
It started at home Jan. 26 against St. Patrick, who beat East Marion 68-55 in early January while Eagles star Caleb Rawls was out with a concussion. Despite going into the fourth quarter trailing 30-26 and dealing with horrible officiating, the Eagles (10-2, 7-1) found a way to win 45-41.
The Eagles got the fourth quarter started with a 10-3 run over the first 2:30 to take a 36-33 lead as Cameron Walker scored on a nifty spinning drive and Rawls scoring eight straight points, including a step-back 3-pointer over two defenders. St. Patrick took back the lead with about three minutes to play, but Walker made a 3-pointer to make it 40-38. The Fighting Irish answered with a three of their own before Rawls tied 41-41 with a free throw with 1:18 to play.
The Eagles then forced St. Patrick into a contested mid-range miss with 40 seconds to play to get the ball back. Coming out of a timeout, Deuce Johnson made a great pass to hit Rawls cutting to the basket for an easy layup that made it 43-41 with 13 seconds left. St. Patrick tried to tie with a layup, but Rawls contested the shot, got the rebound and made two free throws to seal the win.
“Obviously having Caleb back tipped the scales and made it that competitive, evenly-matched dog fight that we expected to be in,” head coach Calvin Brown said. “Other than that it was just a matter of both teams playing hard. We made some shots when we needed to and got stops when we needed to. We were fortunate to come out on top.”
Although he struggled finishing at times — shooting 8-of-22 — Rawls had a monster game with 22 points, 19 rebounds (nine offensive) and three blocks. For the game the Eagles outrebounded St. Patrick 37-27. Despite having just three points, Carlos Stubbs was very active with seven rebounds and four assists. Cameron Walker added 10 points, and Deuce Johnson chipped in seven. Vashon Sims was held scoreless for the first time since he became a regular in the rotation as a freshman, missing all three shots he attempted, but he controlled the pace of the game and had seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
At North Forrest Friday night, the Eagles had the potential to run into a trap game with North Forrest star Joe Holloway (23.5 points per game) out with an injury. But rather than go into the game expecting to win, the Eagles continued to fight hard and came away with a 60-41 victory. Brown said he was really proud of the win because East Marion showed maturity.
“Joe got hurt in the Collins game and had not been evaluated yet, so they were not going to play him,” he said. “I feel like it was a trap game because they have some talented young players that play hard, are very well-coached and they threatened us multiple times within one or two possessions. I was just proud of the way we stayed the course, didn’t panic and didn’t start pointing the finger. Everyone in our district is capable, and a game like that coming off St. Patrick and finding out Joe wasn’t playing could’ve been a trap where we beat ourselves.”
Rawls had another big game, shooting 75% from the floor and 50% from behind the arc for 26 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. For the season, the 6-foot-7 combo forward is shooting an absurd 50% from deep, showcasing his growth from a long glue guy as a sophomore to a full-on superstar as a senior.
“Just knowing him and seeing him grow, I’m proud of him because he’s shooting them to make them and shooting them to score. Last year he was shooting them to prove he could, being a high school ‘big kid.’ He wanted to fight the stigma and prove that he was more than just a big kid under the goal. A lot of times that affected his shot selection on top of last year unexpectedly being without Vashon, he got a lot of defenses thrown at him,” Brown said. “But this year he’s taking them when they’re there and shooting them to help us win.”
Sims added 12 points against North Forrest, scoring all of his points from behind the arc with four 3-pointers, to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Stubbs stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks, while Walker and LJ Andrews had six points apiece.
East Marion was supposed to play Perry Central Monday and Tuesday and Collins Thursday to close out the regular season, but Perry Central is taking forfeits until the district tournament and Collins is under quarantine. Unless St. Patrick loses to North Forrest Thursday, East Marion will enter the district tournament as the No. 2 seed behind the Fighting Irish. Because East Marion and St. Patrick split their matchups, the tiebreaker goes to point differential in those games, which St. Patrick holds the edge in.
The Region 8-2A Tournament will be held at East Marion Feb. 10 and Feb. 12, with the Eagles likely taking on North Forrest in the semifinal game Feb. 10. The full bracket will be finalized Saturday.
