Although it hasn’t always been pretty, the East Marion Eagles are playing their best basketball of the season right now and have won five of their past six games.
The Eagles (12-10, 6-1) had a big matchup Jan. 25 at home against Amite County, who previously beat the Eagles by 22 points earlier in the season. But East Marion was able to flip the script on the Trojans last week and come away with a much-needed 61-55 victory thanks to an aggressive defense that never let Amite County get going.
“We didn’t let them get as comfortable shooting,” head coach Calvin Brown said. “Multiple guys shoot it pretty well for them. At their place, they got off to a great start and we only accounted for one or two of (their shooters). Here, we were able to force some turnovers, and our run-and-jump was working pretty good. We got off to a great start. From there, it was a game of runs, and we had the runs at the best times.”
East Marion made just one 3-pointer in the game but shot 44% inside the arc and dominated the glass with 15 offensive rebounds. Donny Anderson led the way with 18 points on an efficient 7-of-13 shooting night to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Deuce Johnson added 13 points and nine rebounds (five offensive), and Malcolm Simmons added eight points.
The Eagles carried over that momentum into Friday at West Lincoln, where they left with a 55-25 victory. Brown said West Lincoln played better against the Eagles this time, but East Marion’s depth allowed it to separate as it 12 different players score.
Anderson and Johnson again led the way with 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Ladarien Haynes and Ja’don Patton each had six.
East Marion played its final district game of the season Tuesday at Loyd Star, but results were unavailable at press time. The Eagles will close the regular season Friday at South Jones.
While the Eagles had a better district record than Amite County going into Tuesday night (6-1 to 5-1), Amite County had the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the district tournament. The Trojans hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over East Marion because of point differential and went into the week with two more district games and the possibility to finish 7-1 just like the Eagles. East Marion could steal the top seed if Amite County loses one of its final two games.
The Eagles have been more consistent of late and have the district record to prove it, but Brown said East Marion still has work to do on its consistency game to game.
“There’s no ceiling,” he said of the squad’s potential. “There’s a lot of parody in Class 2A, and as we continue to grow, I could see us sticking our nose in the statewide picture.”
The Lady Eagles (10-13, 2-5) have been up-and-down for much of the season but played one of their better games Jan. 25 in a 46-16 home win over Amite County.
“We handled our business. I prefaced it as a must win. If they came in here and beat us, that would be a signal that we pretty much had thrown in the towel. We handled our business and did what we’re supposed to,” Brown said. “The next order of business is climbing up the ladder. We have to get away from the bottom (of the district) before we start reaching for the top.”
Jayda Porter had a career night as the freshman led East Marion with 17 points and eight steals. Destiny Brown added 16 points and five steals, while Ellen Porter added six points.
However, Friday at West Lincoln was a severe struggle for the Lady Eagles as they couldn’t score over the final three quarters in a 53-20 loss. Destiny Brown scored all six of her points in the first quarter as West Lincoln deployed a box-and-one defense, but the Lady Bears started doubling Destiny Brown the rest of the way and forced the rest of East Marion’s play to beat them.
“We played a great first quarter. They hit a three at the end of the quarter to go up three,” coach Brown said. “The bottom just fell out (when they changed defenses), similar to the second half against Harrison Central. They dared anyone else to score, and (Destiny) wasn’t greedy enough to just force the issue, which is a good thing most of the time. But sometimes, you just have to sense that we have not scored in multiple possessions.”
The veteran coach said Destiny Brown would much rather distribute first and score second, but East Marion’s youth dictates that she be go-to option at all times. He added he’s extremely proud of the way she’s handled it.
The Lady Eagles played at Loyd Star Tuesday night (results unavailable) and will finish the regular season Friday at South Jones.
