MONMOUTH — Monmouth Academy’s fourth game in six days had coach Wade Morrill worried about his team’s energy level heading into Saturday’s MVC matinee against Madison.
After the Mustangs scored the game’s first 22 points, Morrill’s biggest concern was wearing out the scoreboard operator.
Monmouth made its first seven shots and held Madison without a field goal for the first 8:46 of the game in a 74-23 win.
Gabe Martin scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter as the Mustangs (9-4) sprinted out to a 28-3 lead at the end of one. Teammates Dylan Lajoie (17 points, five rebounds, five assists, seven steals), Connor Davies (16 points, eight rebounds) and Evan Burnell (14 points, 16 rebounds) took turns adding to the lead each subsequent quarter.
“We got to play from ahead, which fuels us. If fuels any high school boys when they know they’re playing from ahead,” Morrill said. “I was really concerned about our legs, coming in. But our boys proved me wrong.”
Jacob Meader led Madison (5-8) with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Coming off of a 71-64 loss at defending regional champion Hall-Dale on Thursday, the Mustangs came out playing with an edge on both ends and left little doubt from the start of this one. Led by Martin’s four 3-pointers, they made five of seven shots from beyond the arc and 11 of 18 overall in the first quarter.
“We came off a pretty rough loss against Hall-Dale, so this was a comeback game for us, and we were ready,” Martin said. “I was feeling it and they kept giving it to me.”
“We like to feed the hot hand on offense and find open looks,” Davies said. “It just so happens today that he was out there making 3s.”
The Mustangs were efficient in both halfcourt and transition offense at the start.
Davies had the other 3-pointer and complemented the outside game with a couple of buckets from the paint. Lajoie converted a layup off of a Martin steal (one of eight Madison turnovers in the quarter).
“We really go hard in practice and we work on our game situations,” Davies said. “We know that we have to come out strong and put the pressure on early.”
Martin’s second trey of the quarter made it 22-0. Eric Wescott finally got the Bulldogs on the board and ended the run with a pair of free throws with 1:34 left in the period. Martin ended the quarter with his third and fourth 3-pointers.
“Against Hall-Dale, they did a good job on (Martin), and Gabe did a good job recognizing and he facilitated offense for the other guys,” Morrill said. “But he’s the type of guy that can go off at any moment. We’re able to put three or four guys in double digits every night and have great balance across the board. We’re going to take what you give us.”
“We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean in the first quarter,” Madison coach Jason Furbush said. “They’re a good team, and they’re bigger, faster and stronger than we are.”
It didn’t get much better for the Bulldogs after Meader’s layup 46 seconds into the second quarter made it 30-5. Madison shot 7-for-38 (18 percent) from the floor for the game.
Monmouth started to cool off in the second quarter but a couple of more inside hoops by Davies and Martin’s fifth 3-pointer extended the lead to 41-11 before halftime.
“When we’re on on offense, we play great defense, and that fuels our offense, too,” Martin said. “I think we play better as a team if we’re playing great on defense, and it shows in our offense as well.”
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