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R&B Music: PCA's Randle, Botley key season-opening win at Hoopfest
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
DUNCANVILLE--It's no secret that Prestonwood Christian Academy seniors Julius Randle and Marquan Botley will be called upon to do quite a bit for the boys basketball team this season.
The duo was up to the task Friday in turning away Madison Prep, 59-52, in the Lions' season opener at Sandra Meadows Arena for the Thanksgiving Hoopfest.
"Not having played a game yet, we were a little rustier than I thought we'd be," said Chris Mayberry, Prestonwood head coach. "... Not a bad first game overall, though. The kids are working hard but we've still got a lot of things to shore up."
"I've known Marquan since fifth grade so that pretty much explains [our on-court chemistry] right there," Randle said.
Dealt a zone by Madison to open the second half, the Lions broke the defense early after Randle found Botley for a pair of 3-pointers to extend the lead to 41-32. Botley would return the favor, setting up Randle for six of his 12 third-quarter points.
The Lions led by as many as 54-38, achieved after Botley found Randle for a baseline alley-oop.
Overall, Randle finished the game with 29 points, 13 rebounds and five assists while Botley posted 17 points and four assists.
"I liked how the team played, especially our defense," Randle said. "We're undersized but we compete really hard. I like that about this team and this was a good first win."
The Chargers were able to whittle their deficit down to six points at 58-52 after LSU commit Jarrell Martin, who led Madison with 18 points and six boards, was fouled on a made bucket with 1:40 left in the game. Prestonwood, opting to burn clock for much of the fourth quarter, controlled the ball long enough to keep the Chargers from closing the gap any further.
"That was my first time playing against [Martin]," Randle said. "He has a real good inside-out game. I wasn't surprised but more impressed with it and I think he'll be good at LSU."
Martin scored nine of his points in the first quarter, although the forward made just two field goals over the ensuing three frames. Credit the likes of freshman Evan Peters, sophomore Shane Missimo and the Prestonwood defense for that effort, keeping the larger Madison squad around the perimeter for much of the contest and even winning the battle on the boards, 23-22.
"We're going to have to switch up defenses a bit more this year," Mayberry said. "I'm a man-to-man defense guy but we won't be able to play as much man this year as I'm used to."
Relying on its quick-trigger transition game and a pair of 3-pointers from senior Chas Taylor to establish a 22-11 lead after one quarter, Prestonwood was limited to 12 points in the second stanza after some early pratfalls in digesting the Chargers' zone.
"Madison started off with a 1-3-1 and then switched to a 2-2-1 later on," Mayberry said. "I thought we got flustered for a few minutes but we got it back early in the second half after Marquan hit those threes."
The Chargers received a couple threes of their own, with Brandon Sampson scoring six of his nine points in the second quarter, while Dedrick Freeman totaled 12 points and four boards on the night.
In victory, Prestonwood opened the season at 1-0 and closed out the weekend with a Saturday night tilt against Duncanville (results not available at press time). The Lions return to action Friday at 8 p.m. when they host Woodrow Wilson.
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