Diagonal routs Mormon Trail

DIAGONAL — Diagonal set the tone early and then had an answer for every Mormon Trail run as the Maroons ran away to a 67-48 win over the Saints here on Friday.

Sophomores Gerad Naill and Levi Jarred both hit 3-pointers to start the game for Diagonal, giving the Maroons momentum early.

When Jacob Taylor sank two technical free throws, the Maroons led 12-3.

“I’m just thrilled with the way we played tonight,” head coach Matt Warren said. “Mormon Trail is a good team coming off a win against Murray, who is second place in our conference. So you knew they had a lot of confidence.”

Diagonal’s quick start seemed to take away some of that Mormon Trail confidence.

The Saints cut the lead to 18-12 by the end of the first quarter, but Diagonal quickly made it a 10-point lead after a pair of Blake Butler free throws.

Mormon Trail put together another run to cut it to 22-20, but Diagonal responded with an 11-3 run to get the lead back to 10. Diagonal took a 36-28 lead into halftime.

“We’re playing our best basketball right now, and that’s when you want to be doing that — at the end of the season,” Warren said. “We wanted to come off on a high note, our last home game, and we did. I’m just so proud of the guys tonight.”

The second half was all Diagonal. The Maroons scored the first four points of the half to stretch the lead to 12.

Mormon Trail never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

When Jarred hit a deep 3-pointer followed by Butler slashing his way to the hoop through the Mormon Trail defense, Diagonal led 45-30.

Butler led all scorers with 26 points. He was one of four Maroon players to finish in double figures. Taylor added 15, Jarred 12 and Naill finished with 10.

“We were pushing the ball, sharing the ball and shooting the ball really well,” Warren said. “That’s when we’re at our best — when we don’t depend on one or two guys to do all the scoring, everybody’s chipping in making shots. That’s how we try to play offensively — balanced, hitting the open guy and making shots.”

Taylor scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Maroons to eventually build a lead of 67-40 before Mormon Trail scored the final eight points of the game.

Taylor nearly recorded a triple-double. He finished with team highs in rebounds (11), assists (nine), steals (five) and blocked shots (two). Butler finished one rebound short of a double-double.

Diagonal had plenty of success getting out and running in transition off of Mormon Trail turnovers and missed shots.

“Mormon Trail hits the boards hard,” Warren said. “So that leaves us open. When we do get it, we’ve got to try to push, beat them down the floor. When we do that, we’re tough to stop.”

Diagonal caps off the regular season with a record of 14-7. Diagonal won five of its final six games and 10 of its final 13 games of the season.

The Maroons open district play Thursday against Lenox (13-8) in Lamoni. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Diagonal defeated Lenox 35-34 on Jan. 16 in Lenox.

“Lenox, another very good team,” Warren said. “Very good rebounding. Strong defensively, just like Mormon Trail. It’s going to be about the same. We’re going to need to rebound, get stops and make open shots. Lenox is a good team. We know that. We’re going to need to bring it just like we did tonight.”

MORMON TRAIL (48) — Kelton Stansberry 6 11-13 23, Jakob Horton 3 3-3 10, Kale Horton 1 4-5 7, Brett Leer 2 1-2 5, Andrew Reed 0 2-4 2, Joel Funk 0 1-2 1. Totals — 12 22-29 48. 3-point goals — 2 (K. Horton 1, J. Horton 1).

DIAGONAL (67) — Blake Butler 10 5-7 26, Jacob Taylor 6 2-2 15, Levi Jarred 4 2-4 12, Gerad Naill 3 1-2 10, Colter Pickering 2 0-1 4. Totals — 25 10-16 67. 3-point goals — 7 (Naill 3, Jarred 2, Taylor 1, Butler 1). FG shooting — 25-46 (54 percent). Rebounds — 35 (Taylor 11, Butler 9, Naill 5, Pickering 5, Kenneth Weaselhead 2, Jarred 2).  Assists — 17 (Taylor 9, Naill 3, Jarred 3, Butler 2). Steals — 8 (Taylor 5). Blocked shots — 5 (Taylor 2). Team fouls — 18. Fouled out  — Weaselhead.

MT — 12 28 39 48

Diagonal — 18 36 51 67