Patriots ready to battle Yellowjackets at home

Patriots ready to battle Yellowjackets at home

Marion searches for their fourth consecutive victory tonight at home against Wynne

sports@theeveningtimes.com

The Marion Patriots (3-1 overall, 2-0 conference) defend their home court tonight against the Wynne Yellowjackets (3-4, 1-1).

The two teams compete against each other in a regular season game for the first team since the 2014 Patriot Classic. The Patriots, who won the 2014 matchup, will attempt to recreate the magic from over a year ago and win their third conference game of the season.

Now playing in the 5A/6A East Conference, the Patriots look to win its first of two regularly scheduled contest against their new conference opponent. With the addition of a post-season district tournament this year, Patriot Head Coach Irving Clay believes wining tonight’s home conference game is vital to the team’s success going forward.

“The conference game is awfully important but even more so at home,” Clay said. “This is a new conference and we have a new format. We’re going to have to play a district tournament. So, it depends on where you fall at the end of the season as to what seeding you get. We want to win all of our conference games, especially the ones at home. You want to hold serve at home and protect your home court.”

The Patriots, who currently ride a three-game winning streak, have not played since December 9th. Clay believes that focusing on the fundamentals of the game in practice repeatedly allows his players to remain sharp.

“We try to do the same things over and over so it will become habits for the kids,” Clay said. “We have to get better at what we do offensively, defensively and as far as inbound plays go. [The players] become comfortable in their own skin and running our offense and defense. They become comfortable with what they’re doing because they’ve done it so many times.”

The Patriots mindset going into to this game is like any other, according to Clay, to execute Patriot style basketball flawlessly.

“We have to make sure we’re prepared to do what were supposed to do and hopefully our defense will stop them from doing what they want to do,” Clay said. “We put emphasis on make sure we do what we’re supposed to on offense and defense and the rest will take care of itself. That’s our philosophy.”

That philosophy has allowed the Patriots to win three consecutive games, the team’s only loss coming in their season opener on November 17th against the Horn Lake Eagles (95). Confident in his player’s ability to handle success, Clay does not worry about the team losing focus.

“This is what you’re supposed to do,” Clay said.

“Any sport you’re playing the main objective is to win so you have to become comfortable with that. If you’re winning it shouldn’t be a surprise. That’s what you prepared to do.

Winning should be what you expect.”

In order to continue their win streak, the Patriots will need to emerge victories tonight against a Wynne team which is full of familiar faces. With only 41 miles separating the two schools, players know each other well on and off the court. Clay believes that despite the familiarity, if the Patriots execute their game plan well they will earn the victory.

“A lot of them play against each other in the summer,” Clay said. “We are very much familiar with each other. It’s just going to come down to who wants the game more and plays the hardest. If we play solid defense, rebound well and make free throws we can win any given night.”

After tonight’s homegame against Wynne, the Patriots travel to Columbus, Mississippi to play in the Joe Horn Christmas Classic. The opening game of the classic is against Senatobia on December 17th at 4:00 p.m.

The junior varsity Patriots as well as the Lady Patriots are also in action tonight. The action tips off at 4:00 p.m. in Patriot Arena. All the varsity action will be broadcast live by Patriot broadcasters Ken Mitchell and David Fogleman. For full playby- play coverage of every minute of varsity basketball, tune into Country 92.5 F.M. at 6:00 p.m.

By Collins Peeples