Wildcats’ rally comes up short

FRONTENAC — A dismal third quarter turned a halftime advantage into a seven-point deficit for Marmaton Valley High’s boys.
The Wildcats turned on some defensive pressure down the stretch, but could get no closer than the final two-point margin in a 43-41 loss to host Frontenac High.
The defeat drops the Wildcats to 1-5 on the season.
“Turnovers killed us,” Wildcat head coach Denny Lasley said. “The guys played hard. But we just have a problem with throwing the ball away.”
Frontenac deployed a trapping defense in the third quarter to take control, Lasley said.
 “Actually, they were trapping in the first half, but it got more intense in the third quarter, and it gave us problems.”
The teams were knotted at 7-7 after one period before Marmaton Valley led 18-14 at the break.
The Wildcats trailed by as many as nine before their comeback attempt.
Dalton Houk drained four three-pointers to score a game-high 22 points for the Wildcats. Cole Becker added 10 points and four steals. Landon Hammond pulled down six rebounds.
Devon Keith paced the Raiders with 15 points.
Marmaton Valley’s girls lost 54-26 to go 0-6. No report was received by the Register on the game by deadline.
Marmaton Valley’s teams return home Friday to take on Crest in Three Rivers League play.
Marmaton Valley (7-11-9-14—41) (FG/3-pt): Lewis 2-0-3-4, Louk 1-1-4-3, Houk 5/4-0-4-22, Hammond 0-1-5-1, Becker 3/1-1-2-10, Stewart 0-0-1-0, Smart 0-1-0-1. TOTALS: 11/5-4-19-41.
Frontenac (7-7-20-9—43) (FG/3-pt): Keith 4/1-4-0-15, Mathew 1-1-3-3, Tindell 0-0-2-0, Lollar 1-0-1-2, Jones 1-0-0-2, Barto 3-0-3-6, Zafuta 1-3-1-5, Wiseman 0-2-1-2, Hatzfeld 0/1-0-1-3, Macary 1/1-0-0-5. TOTALS: 12/3-10-12-43.