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HIGHLAND – Edwardsville’s Jack Marinko led the way for the Tigers in their Saturday afternoon game at the Scott Credit Union Highland Optimist Shootout against Kansas City Rockhurst.
Marinko had a game-high 29 points for EHS in their 53-50 loss to the Hawklets; taking on Rockhurst was a challenge for the Tigers. “They’ve got a really quick guard in Xavier Rhodes,” Marinko said. “They had some long, lengthy guys inside that were hard to guard; it was hard to get shots up, they got rebounds and they blocked shots – it was just a tough game.
“When I got the ball, I drove the middle; I thought we did a good job of screening to get me open. They had two big guys that can high-low (the ball) – they were hard to guard.”
Marinko’s 29 points didn’t come easily, especially in the second half; the Hawklets made sure that he earned each of his points. “I just tried to attack the basket and get a couple of buckets here and there,” Marinko said.
The Tigers dropped to 10-4 on the year and will host Alton in a boys-girls doubleheader at Lucco-Jackson Gym beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.