Homan's 30 leads Tigers past Bulldogs, claim third place in MVC Tournament

Marquand-Zion's Braydan Homan prepares to pass the ball against Zalma in the MVC Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 1, at Meadow Heights High School in Patton, Mo.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Braydan Homan scored 30 points to lead Marquand-Zion over Zalma to claim third place in the MVC Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 1, at Meadow Heights High School in Patton, Mo.

The Tigers have now won five of the last six matchups against their rival Bulldogs.

"It's just a lot of hostility between all of us," Homan said. "They always like to make it rough on us and we always just play a lot better. We know we have to win the game because we don't want to have that over us at the end of the day."

The game was competitive in the first quarter, with the Tigers leading 14-11 behind Homan's nine points. Homan continued with eight points in the second quarter and Eli Reimler added seven of his 13 points to slightly extend the Tigers' lead to 35-29 entering halftime.

Homan made three baskets from the three-point line, along with a mid-range shot, to lead the Tigers with 11 points in the third quarter. A 21-10 period gave Marquand a commanding 56-39 lead entering the fourth quarter. Joel Dees also scored 11 points for the Tigers.

Marquand remained strong in the fourth quarter with 22 points while holding Zalma to seven points. Hayden Wolfe found the basket in the final period with 11 of his 13 points.

With the win, the Tigers have won five games for the second season in a row. One more win will be Marquand's sixth win, its first six-win season since 2015-16, which was also their last winning season. To bring a third-place plague back to Marquand is special to Homan because he still remembers when his team was struggling through an 82-game losing streak, spanning from 2018-22 as a freshman.

"It's an accomplishment because we had an 82-game losing streak and when I was a freshman we broke it," Homan said. "We're grateful for every win that we get. Even though it might not look like a lot to everyone else. It's a lot to us because we don't win a lot. All our players are young, we're only losing two seniors this year. So I think we'll have more to come."

Marquand (5-11) will travel to Lesterville on Monday, Feb. 5.

Zalma was led by Jarren Woods, who scored 14 points, followed by 11 points from Clayton Schrader added 11 points. The Bulldogs (2-19), losers of 12 straight, will host Chaffee on Tuesday, Feb. 6.