Lenert
Statesmen junior Matthew Lenert prepares to convert two of his 18 second half points on a breakaway Wednesday night versus Langley.

Lenert leads second half Marshall charge over Langley

Langley had all the energy early as the Saxons led Marshall for most of the first half in a Liberty District contest Wednesday night.

Then Marshall junior Matthew Lenert got going.

Lenert scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as Marshall defeated visiting Langley, 58-52. He got steals, he converted at the rim, he made free throws, and he buried two three-pointers. In the first half he was just a guy, making one shot of the four he took. In the second half he was the guy.

“Slow start,” Lenert said when asked if felt he needed to get it going a little more in the second half. “I needed to [get it going]. My team wasn’t really shooting well in the first half, so I needed to step it up. It worked out well for us.”

Langley played the night before while Marshall was idle, but you wouldn’t know it early on. The Saxons raced to an 8-0 lead and led 18-14 after a quarter, thanks to the blistering-hot outside shooting of junior Brendan Mansinne and all-around play of star senior guard Amr Areikat.

Marshall senior Adien Hrnjez (18 points) was a focal point from the high point all evening.
Marshall senior Adien Hrnjez (18 points) was a focal point against the Langley zone from the high point all evening.

Marshall stayed in the game in large part to the efforts of senior forward Adien Hrnjez. He had 12 first half points, mostly from the high post, as the focal point of the Statesmen attack versus the Langley zone.

Lenert mostly ran the baseline in that attack, but he struggled to receive the ball in good spots early on. He didn’t in the second half.

“My teammates’ passing ability is amazing,” Lenert said. “They started to find me on the side, in the corner. If I missed, we’d get the rebound. The whole team fought really well tonight.”

Hrnjez finished with 18 points and eight rebounds for the Statesmen (6-1, 12-2). Senior guard Connor Scinto added six points, and did a good job running Marshall’s offense–and getting the ball to Lenert. Marshall coach Jerry Lin clearly made it a priority to get the junior the ball in the second half–he even called an alley-oop to Lenert out of a time out, which resulted in two free throws.

Eli Nassif and the Marshall defense did a good job limiting the damage by Langley star Amr Areikat.
Eli Nassif and the Marshall defense did a good job limiting the damage by Langley star Amr Areikat.

“He’s really the heart and soul of our team,” Lin said of Lenert.

Mansinne led Langley (4-3, 8-5) with a team-high 13 points. The Marshall defense did a pretty good job on Areikat, limiting him to 12 points on 3-14 shooting. Still Areikat impacted the game in other ways, contributing six rebounds and six assists.

–Chris Jollay

all stats are unofficial

MARSHALL FG FT TP REB AST
SCINTO 2-6 2-2 6 2 1
DeSENTI 1-3 3-4 5 2 3
NASSIF 0-3 0-1 0 3 2
LENERT 5-10 8-10 20 6 0
HRNJEZ 6-14 5-5 18 8 1
Penn 1-3 2-2 5 1 2
Rothman 0-0 0-0 0 1 3
McDermott 2-3 0-0 4 1 0
Madden 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
TOTALS 17-42 20-24 58 25 12
Threes: Lenert 2-3, Hrnjez 1-1, Penn 1-2, Scinto 0-2, DeSenti 0-2, Nassif 0-3
LANGLEY FG FT TP REB AST
MANSINNE 4-12 1-2  13  6  2
AREIKAT 3-14 6-7  12  6  6
MACCHIAVELLO 3-6 0-0  8  2  3
BRADSHAW 3-7 4-5  12  4  0
KELLY 2-3 0-0  4  1  0
Carton 0-2 0-0  0  0  0
Krawczyk 1-4 0-0  3  3  0
TOTALS 16-48 11-14 52  22  11
Threes: Mansinne 4-7, Bradshaw 2-3, Macchiavello 2-5, Krawczyk 1-4, Areikat 0-3