Following an 0-3 start in their new district, the Eagles are back up to .500 in Region 8-2A competition on the heels of three consecutive wins.
East Marion (6-13, 3-3) pulled off the season sweep of Collins Jan. 21 in a 58-47 win behind a strong first quarter and effort from star forward Caleb Rawls.
The 6-foot-6 junior dominated the paint with 21 points on 57% shooting, 14 rebounds and four blocks.
Rawls got some major help from point guard Devin Daniels, who made 5-of-6 shots for 12 points, had five steals, four rebounds and four assists. Deuce Johnson added eight points on 67% shooting, and Cameron Walker chipped in seven. Carlos Stubbs corralled five boards and dished four assists.
Then on Friday at home, the Eagles got some revenge from an early-season loss with a 64-31 drumming of Perry Central. They had previously lost a heartbreaker 49-47 in mid-December but dominated from start to finish in the rematch.
“We scored more consistently, we’re assisting each other more and that’s leading to better shots,” head coach Calvin Brown said. “Defensively we didn’t have as many lapses as we did at their place. There were stretches (Dec. 19) where it seemed like we just couldn’t guard them.”
Daniels led East Marion’s balanced scoring with 14 points to go along with five assists and four steals. Cameron Walker and Rawls, who also had eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks, each had 13 points. Stubbs affected the game in several areas as well, scoring seven points, hauling in seven rebounds and blocking two shots.
East Marion had been struggling with getting consistent production from someone not named Caleb Rawls, but Daniels, Walker, Stubbs and Deuce Johnson have improved with each passing game.
“I’ve been pleased with the progress, and I’ve really been pleased with getting contributions from other people,” Brown said. “We’ve been challenging them to keep it up and bring some more people on board.”
The Eagles are currently in fourth place in their district behind North Forrest (3-1), St. Patrick (4-2) and Collins (4-3) but could find themselves in either first or second by week’s end. They played at St. Patrick Tuesday night (results unavailable at press time) and will play host to North Forrest Thursday on senior night.
Brown said Tuesday’s game will be more of a true test for the Eagles. St. Patrick won the previous meeting 51-49 at the buzzer Jan. 10 at East Marion but was without two key contributors. East Marion lost to North Forrest the first time around in overtime on the road.
Brown reiterated he just wants to see steady progress through the end of the regular season and that the wins and losses will take care of themselves.
“Our approach hasn’t changed. We’re still targeting the second week of February (for the district tournament),” he said. “We just can’t afford any backwards steps. Our main thing is to just keep getting better, especially the guys that are still emerging and are still in development. They’re growing into new shoes.”
East Marion has an extremely difficult test Friday night when it travels to Oak Grove to take on the No. 1 ranked team in Class 6A to close out the regular season. In fact the Warriors are considered the No. 2 team in the entire state behind Callaway (Class 5A), according to Mississippi Gridiron.
“It will be a bigger challenge with better personnel. It will be a chance to gauge against a different level of competition,” Brown said.
Pictured Above: East Marion's Cameron Walker releases a floater in the lane Jan. 21. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
