(Photo provided by Dionne DePuy).
It was a close game last night, as the Marathon varsity boys basketball team defeated Union Springs by a score of 68-61 to improve to a 3-1 overall record.
Before the game even started, senior guard Diego Castellot was recognized by Marathon fans for reaching the 1,000 career points mark last Friday at Seton Catholic; as this was the Olympian's first game back at home since Castellot reached the mark.
"It feels great getting this great support at home," said Castellot. "It really helps us get these kinds of wins."
At the beginning of the game, both teams seemed to be doing equal damage to each other, with the first quarter ending 13-13.
The Olympians however, were able to take a seven-point lead (31-24) at the end of the second quarter and never looked back.
Going into the second half, Union Springs kept pressuring the Olympians and held them to a close game, as they pulled within four points in the fourth. That was when Marathon's starting five began to react again by making plays both defensively and offensively. Castellot then connected on a three pointer to get the lead back to seven with around two minutes to go.
"We just said to each other that we had to get one more stop," said Marathon head coach James Holland. "We called a time out and said that we needed to make this execution work, get a basket, get a stop, and get back into the swing of things."
At the end of the game, Union Springs had no other choice than to foul. That's where Castellot and fellow senior, Andrew Tillotson connected on 7 of 8 free throws to keep the lead and close out the game.
Castellot led the Olympians in scoring with a 26-point game, while Tillotson pulled down 16 rebounds to go along with 14-points for his first double-double of the season.
Fellow Olympians Kenyon DePuy, Owen Hoyt, Conor Holland, and Braeden Morrison would combine for a total of 28-points.
"I thought this was our best team outing together so far this year," stated coach Holland. "There were some mental lapses, but I think the last two games have been a lot more team effort."
Up next Marathon will be on the road to take on Southern Cayuga on Friday, December 13th, 2019. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Here are some more photos of last night's game (all photos are provided by Dionne DePuy):
