Brekke, Marshall lead Wylie boys basketball past Lubbock High, improve to 2-0 in district

Avery Brekke and Martin Marshall combined for 48 points as the Wylie boys basketball team beat Lubbock High 66-57 on Tuesday night at Bulldog Gym to improve to 2-0 in District 4-5A play.

As Brekke dominated inside for 29 points, Marshall scored nine of his 19 points in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs got out to a big lead, but after going up 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, they could not pull away.

Wylie never let Lubbock High back into the game, either.

"We haven't done that too much this year, and we were able to do that," Wylie coach Gregg Ruffin said of the big lead early. "They hit some shots and we missed some that we needed to make to try to extended that (lead), but we did enough to keep the distance. You've got to do that because, that's the one thing we noticed on the move up (to Class 5A), everybody can play with everybody."

During its current six-game winning streak, Wylie has been getting contributions up and down the roster. Brekke is going to get his points, but he is also going to attract the attention of opposing defenses. That opens things for other players and Tuesday, it was Marshall's night.

He hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, but scored on a runner and another 3 during a nine-point second quarter. Marshall added a basket in the third and went for five in the fourth, including 3 of 4 from the free throw line as the Bulldogs put the game away.

"Tonight it was Martin who stepped up and had a big night," Ruffin said. "Mark (Fakhoury's) been able to do that the last couple times. That's what we talked about. Everybody's going to be focused on Avery, so people have got to be ready to step up. We may have two other guys that are hot, we may just have one other guy that's hot. To have people step up in that role.

"You can count on Avery, whatever he's going to give you, but he's going to have to work for it. That allows those other ones to be an easier task to get some points. Martin did that tonight, thank goodness."

While Wylie led from start to finish, the Westerners never went away. They hit nine 3-pointers to keep the game within reach, getting as close as five points with 2:18 to play. But the Bulldogs pushed right back and finished on a 7-3 run.

With the win, Wylie joins Lubbock Monterey at 2-0 in district while Cooper is 1-0 after having to postpone its game against Lubbock Coronado, which is 0-1. Lubbock High and Lubbock-Cooper dropped to 0-2.

Two games into the district schedule, the Bulldogs are in as good of a position as they can be in.

"That's what we talked about before the game, if we win this game we could not be in a better position," Ruffin said. "You want to be 2-0 and after tonight's win, we're 2-0. Sometimes you win games when you play pretty good, sometimes you win ugly games. I think tonight was an ugly game, but the end result is we're 2-0."

Wylie is scheduled to play at Cougar Gym on Friday, but the game is in doubt due to COVID-19 issues within the Cooper program.

"I'd much rather be going over there being 2-0 than 1-1," Ruffin said. "And I hope we get to play and I hope it's crowded because that's what you want in a crosstown showdown, especially being a district game. You want to feel that playoff atmosphere and hopefully we'll be able to do that."

Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

DISTRICT 4-5A BOYS

Wylie 66, Lubbock High 57

Lubbock 9 16 12 20—57

Wylie 16 17 14 19—66

LUBBOCK HIGH (11-13, 0-2) — Cole Stephens 4 0-0 11, Braeden Gibbs 7 2-2 18, Liam Earthman 0 0-0 0, Chris Morales 5 1-1 14, Seric Ross 1 3-3 5, Teran Kamgaing 0 0-0 0, Sidd Bhatka 2 2-4 6, Jacquavio Craft 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 8-10 57.

WYLIE (14-11, 2-0) — Derrick Evans 0 3-4 3, KJ Long 2 0-0 5, Isaiah Carrillo 0 0-0 0, Dylan Jennings 2 0-0 5, Kazion Brown 2 0-0 5, Martin Marshall 7 3-4 19, Mark Fakhoury 0 0-1 0, Avery Brekke 10 9-13 29, Harrison Heighten 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 15-22 66.

3-Point Goals — Lubbock High 9 (Stephens 3, Gibbs 2, Morales 3, Craft 1); Wylie 5 (Long 1, Jennings 1, Brown 1, Marshall 2). Total Fouls — Lubbock High 16, Wylie 10. Fouled Out — LHS: Morales. Technical Fouls — None.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Brekke, Marshall lead Wylie boys basketball past Lubbock High