Although the Eagles currently have a losing record, East Marion (4-5) is beginning to take shape as a similar squad to the one that reached the Mississippi Coliseum last year.
The Class 1A Eagles dispatched a 5A team with relative ease at home Dec. 4, cruising to a 72-59 victory over Laurel, thanks to a career-best performance by Caleb Rawls. The 6-foot-6 sophomore small forward had career highs in points (22) and rebounds (12), swatted three shots and was 2-for-2 from deep.
“Caleb is real efficient. He doesn’t waste any shots and doesn’t waste any opportunities,” head coach Calvin Brown said. “I was happy to see him have a good one for his confidence and overall morale because it’s been frustrating for him with his knee. He’s missed some games with some growth plate pains.”
John Rawls (10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks), Flenard McLin (10 points, seven rebounds and two assists) and Vashon Sims (seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks) provided all-around performances to compliment Caleb Rawls.
Friday, though, was a bitter pill to swallow for East Marion. The Eagles squandered several opportunities to put the game away and lost to Bay Springs 78-74 at home. Bay Springs (9-0; ranked No. 1 in the state in 2A) made it to the state championship game last year and is as tough as any opponent on the Eagles’ schedule.
Brown said there were a couple uncharacteristic shooting nights for the Eagles, namely Sims and McLin, who combined to shoot 4-of-17 from the field. He also noted that East Marion were assessed a couple technical fouls that gave Bay Springs some extra points, which is something he said he and the Eagles learned from quickly, and the Eagles didn’t do enough defensively.
“There were some times where (Bay Springs) walked all the way from one baseline to our backboard with no type of defensive resistance. A couple of those possessions could have been the difference,” he said. “There was so much we took away from that.”
Though the loss stung in the moment, Brown said he believes it will only help the Eagles in the long run.
“(Bay Springs) is a championship-caliber team, and that was a championship-caliber atmosphere. That was as close as you can come to simulating a Coliseum game in the regular season.”
John Rawls had his best offensive game of the season with 28 points and had 11 points from the charity stripe and 10 rebounds. Devin Daniels had the best game of his season with 11 points and a career-high eight assists and three steals. Caleb Rawls was once again perfect from deep, drilling two 3-pointers and scoring 16 points and hauling in eight rebounds.
Caleb Rawls had only made three career 3-pointers before the two-game stretch, but Brown said the uptick was more about the Eagles’ spacing allowing him to take more jumpers.
“He’s always been able to shoot it. It’s just a matter of him getting good looks. With Ja’Mario (Marsalis) gone that lane has opened up a little more for him when we play inside-out,” he said.
Sims had an atypical night offensively, scoring just eight points on 22 percent shooting and turning it over eight times, but he did have 10 rebounds and three blocks. Sims has already taken seven more shots from behind the arc in nine games than he did in 23 last season. He is making just 28 percent of his triples, and the Eagles are only connecting on 24 percent as a team. While Brown understands unequivocally the value of simply taking 3-pointers to space the floor in order to take advantage of the athleticism and length the Eagles have to drive to the basket, but he said they have to make more.
Sims, John Rawls and Caleb Rawls are each blocking between 1.7 and 2.7 shots per game, but Brown said the Eagles need to do a better job of being better positioned defensively in the paint to contest shots while avoiding fouls. They also need to get better on the perimeter to keep drivers from entering the lane to begin with.
He said they need to stop thinking they can block every shot, which tends to lead to foul trouble, and start getting bodies in front of people to keep them out of the paint.
Another area that has hindered East Marion is taking care of the ball, evidenced by 20.2 turnovers per game. With several players not joining the team until the third week of the season because of other athletic commitments, they not only miss those first games but also several months of practice.
“Our kids start so late that it’s hard to teach decision making at game speed. We’re frustrated seventh through 12th, boys and girls, (with turnovers). We just need practice to work on ourselves,” he explained. “We’re still not running an offense. We’re trying to space the floor and be organized, but in terms of structure and discipline I can’t even really ask that of our kids until we get more practice time.”
Despite the areas the Eagles have to improve in, they are on the upswing and could become elite once again with improvement. East Marion played at Jeff Davis Tuesday night, but results were unavailable. The Eagles will play host to rival West Marion Friday night at 7:30.
Pictured Above: East Marion's Vashon Sims is challenged at the rim by Columbia's TJ Monroe. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
