Zalma shows heart despite setbacks in tough loss to Marquand-Zion

Hayden Wolfe scored 23 points to lead Marquand-Zion past Zalma 83-28 on Friday, Jan. 31.

Braden Homan and Kolby Stafford both added 15 points for the Tigers, who improved to 6-10.

Senior Destin Chamberlain tallied 17 points to pace the Bulldogs. Andy Krolak contributed a third-quarter field goal and Alex Walk finished with six second-half points. Colby Borders was 2 of 4 at the foul line in the third quarter and finished with two points, while Nate Borders was 1 of 2 from the line in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs are now 2-11 on the 2024-25 season. Despite being down to only six active players, it didn’t deter them from competing with plenty of effort.

“This is the biggest crowd we’ve played in front of all year, that was nice for the boys to be able to experience that and have the support from the school,” Zalma coach Phoenix Beal said. “Hopefully we see the kids that were in the stands that were watching say, ‘Hey, I might want to play this game, that looks really fun to play.’”

The visiting Tigers led 25-6 after the first quarter and 55-16 at halftime. Marquand outscored Zalma 23-11 in the third quarter and 5-1 in the fourth.

Marquand forced eight first-quarter turnovers on its way to the early advantage. It was 6-0 after three quick field goals. Chamberlain’s three-point play with 5:37 left in the first quarter cut the Tigers’ lead to 6-3. Five more baskets by Marquand, including two 3-pointers, pushed its lead to 18-3 with 2:50 to go in the opening quarter.

“We finally started playing our pressure defense the work we were taught,” Marquand-Zion head coach Charlie Doudlin said. “We’ve been working on that all year and we’re finally starting to get it.”

The Bulldogs hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to double their scoring output. The Tigers were 9 of 21 from the floor in the opening quarter. In the second, they were 9 of 12 in building their big halftime cushion. Chamberlain scored all 11 of his squad’s points in the second. Zalma was 3 of 12 in the second quarter, but Chamberlain got consecutive shots to fall 90 seconds before the half, getting the home team within 48-16, but the Tigers concluded the half on a 7-0 run.

Walk hit a pair of field goals to begin the scoring in the third quarter. The Tigers used a 13-3 run for about 3:30 in the third to push their lead to 71-23.

“I love the idea of getting kids here,” Beal said, referring to Friday’s 1 p.m. start that had the entire student body in attendance cheering on the Bulldogs. “That was the whole idea of this, to promote student engagement for sports. I wish it could’ve ended a little bit differently. We didn’t get to put on a good show for them, but there’s a lot of things that factored into that.”

Beal said senior Nate Borders and younger brother Colby Borders had missed school earlier in the week with Type A flu.

“They were definitely fatigued,” Beal said. “I’ve never had to pull Nate out of a game and I had to sit him for a couple minutes today.”

Beal said Eddie Trainor will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

The Bulldogs take part in the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament next week. They host Leopold at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, after the 6 p.m. game between Meadow Heights and Marquand. Meadow Heights plays Zalma at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, followed by the 7:30 p.m. matchup between Leopold and Marquand. Zalma takes on Marquand at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, followed by the 7:30 p.m. game between Leopold and Meadow Heights.