(Kyle) – Ryken Autry produced 23 points and six assists while Kadeem Blyden totaled 14 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks to fuel Marion through the bi-district round of the 3A boys basketball playoffs in a dominant 61-37 win over Lago Vista on Monday at Kyle-Lehman.
Autry made eight of his 11 field goal attempts and went 2-3 from three-point range. Blyden shot 7-10 from the floor.
“How they go, we go,” Marion head coach Jon Allen said of the senior duo. “There’s no doubt. We haven’t had very many games where those weren’t the leading scorers, and of course they were again. I’m just proud of the guys. They did a great job.”
Lago Vista used a pair of early threes by Nate McKee and Jackson Humke to take an early 6-0 lead. Marion responded with 18 straight points and never looked back.
“It’s a 32 minute game, and being down 6-0 never fazed our guys,” Allen said.
The Bulldogs led 21-8 by the end of the first quarter and took a 37-20 cushion into halftime. Richard Rayos beat the second quarter buzzer with a running three just a few steps inside the mid-court stripe.
Marion extended the lead by 49-26 by the end of the third quarter, and Lago Vista never threatened in the fourth.
Jon Padron helped the Marion cause with eight points, and Dominic Castellanos finished with four. Padron, Castellanos, and Autry each came up with three steals. Rayos and Fernando Romero added three points apiece, and the Bulldogs got two each from Justin Clough, Lane Pawelek, and Joseph Rodriguez.
Marion shot 65 percent overall (26-40) and 80 percent (4-5) from three-point range. The Bulldogs assisted on 17 of their 26 made field goals and limited Lago Vista’s All-District guard Mikey D’Ambrose to two points on a pair of free throws.
Allen attributes the dominant performance to a combination of confidence and unyielding aggression.
“I just kep telling our guys we’re more athletic, we’re quicker, we’ve played tougher teams, and just hopefully instilled in them that,” the coach said. “Our game plan was to pressure them, and I thought we did a great job with that.”
McKee led Lago Vista with 14 points, and Nate Deveze also reached double figures with 10.
The win moves Marion’s season record to 27-7. The Bulldogs advance to face the winner of Tuesday’s game between Vanderbilt-Industrial and Poteet in the area round of the playoffs later this week.