Sturgis’ Jack Scheske looks for an open teammate Tuesday.
(Photo by Wes Morgan)
The five knucklehead Marshall students desperately trying to throw Chance Stewart off his game eventually ran out of things to say. Their antics, however, were at least consistent.
Neither Marshall nor host Sturgis could say the same, but the perhaps weary Trojans, playing for the third time in five days, made the most plays in a 43-33 victory that bumped them up to 13-6 for the season.
What Sturgis did manage to do was distribute the offensive load. Stewart battled for 19 points and 14 rebounds after shooting just 25 percent from the field. Jack Scheske registered 13 points and six rebounds, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half that helped the Trojans put together a 21-15 lead.
Nick Rehm and Andrew Airgood added five and four points, respectively, and Tristen Stewart finished with two.
For the Sturgis seniors, it was the last time they’d set foot on their home court.
“Nothing but love for Sturgis faithful,” Stewart said. “It’s been a privilege playing on that court for the past four years. Thank you for everything.”
Though Sturgis appeared a little flat throughout the game, Scheske said he felt pretty good.
“We played kind of sloppy,” he said. “We did a good job staying composed I thought at the end, but we’ll have to play better next week. Whether we noticed or not, our legs probably were tired. I personally felt a lot better tonight than Saturday, but I don’t know about the rest of the guys.”
Sturgis held a 27-18 lead after three quarters and the advantage grew to 11 before the Redhawks stormed back to make it a five-point game with two and a half minutes to play.
The Trojans were able to stave off Marshall at the foul line to close things out.
“We just worked the ball really well tonight and didn’t force much,” Rehm said. “We didn’t shoot that well in the first half but started to hit some shots in the second half and our defense stepped up again even though we didn’t have the best shooting night.”