MARCELLUS — With the postseason creeping up, the Cassopolis boys basketball team entered Tuesday’s Southwest 10 Conference game at Marcellus feeling confident and riding a three-game winning streak.

The Rangers and head coach Charles Superczynski II were also looking for a season sweep of Marcellus after posting a 60-52 win in early January.  But a rapidly improving Marcellus team disrupted the Rangers’ momentum by handing them a convincing 58-33 loss. 

The loss drops Cassopolis to 9-5 in the Southwest 10 for fourth place and 11-6 overall. Marcellus, now 9-9 overall, is now lodged in a fifth-place tie with Bloomingdale at 7-8 in the conference.

The loss was a very frustrating one for Superczynski and his young Rangers’ roster that includes no seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen.

“Tonight we were very selfish amongst ourselves with the basketball. I felt like there was a cancer flowing within our game and it sure showed. My hats off to Marcellus though because they clogged the paint and played great defense,” Superczynski II said.

Cassopolis, normally a drive and kick type team at the offensive end, resembled more of a ballclub bent on driving and content to take  a shot after just one pass.  

“We do like to shoot from outside, but tonight we forced things and just couldn’t get our offense going. Most of our guys in our starting five these last three games were averaging over 10 points and five or six assists,” Superczynski II said. “When we share and distribute the basketball well it shows and when we don’t we look worse. Going forward we have to learn that we can’t dribble the air out of the basketball. That takes extra practice time if we can find it.”

The win was an exciting and an emotional one for Marcellus and long-time head coach Troy Kahler. The Rangers have dominated the series between the two schools since the Southwest 10 Conference was formed at beginning of the 2014-15 school year and the current list of league members began squaring off in 2016-17.

“Our kids rotated very well at the defensive end of the 

floor. Cassopolis isn’t a great rebounding team, but they are long and very athletic. We won this game with our defense and did enough good things at the offensive end to come out on top,” Kahler said.

“We turned the ball over a bit in transition, but we also got some good looks out of that as well. I’m very proud of our kids. We’ve played eight of our last nine games away and now we finish the regular-season with five straight home games, plus we get to host districts.”

Marcellus capitalized on Cassopolis’ tendency to put up errant shots right out of the gate. The Wildcats forced numerous early turnovers and capitalized for a quick 9-2 lead. 

Freshman guard Jamiere Pratt drained a three pointer to end the bleeding and pull the Rangers within four, 9-5. That momentum didn’t last for too long as Marcellus senior starter Beau Ferguson nailed a triple and added a putback moments after to put his team up 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Ferguson, a four-year starter and one of seven seniors on Marcellus’ roster, finished with 15 points to lead his team in scoring. Parker Adams, another four-year starter, added 14 followed by junior postplayer Jamarion Robinson with 10 and Yona Goodlow and Quinton Tone added six each.

Marcellus, which drained a total of six three pointers, finished the night shooting 23-of-50 (46 percent) from the floor while swishing 6-of-11 (55 percent) free-throw attempts.

Marcellus broke Cassopolis’ defensive pressure in the second quarter in getting a assortment of layups and other shots inside, along with a pair of threes to build themselves a commanding 28-10 halftime advantage.

Ferguson knocked down three triples for Marcellus in the third quarter as the Wildcats outscored the Rangers 22-11 and upped its lead to 50-21 entering the final eight minutes.

Cassopolis made just 11-of-61 attempts (18 oercent) from the field and a chilly 6-for 17 (35.2 percent) from the foul stripe.

Cassopolis was led in scoring by Jamiere Pratt with nine points. Trevon Peterson-Evans added seven points for the Rangers, freshman Tyson West contributed six and Jaylen Pratt scored five.

Marcellus owned a 35-26 rebounding advantage over Cassopolis.

Ferguson also added six rebounds for Marcellus, while Adams led the Wildcats with nine boards. Sophomore Abram Coffey added five boards for the winners and Robinson snagged four for the Wildcats.

Cassopolis was led in rebounding by West with six, while Jaylen Pratt added six and Jamiere Pratt had five boards.

Marcellus forced Cassopolis into 23 turnovers. The Wildcats coughed up the ball 11 times in the contest. 

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