CLINTON — January 18 was a chance for the Maroons to improve their overall and conference record against the struggling Sullivan Redskins.  

The game started well for the Maroons as they took a slight lead of 3 points in the first quarter.  Even with the toughness of the improved Sullivan defense, the Maroons rallied on, creating a 10-point lead by halftime.  

After the halftime break, the Redskins were fired up and the Maroons dropped down a notch or two.  The end of the third quarter saw the opposition trailing by only 4 points and posing a threat to the home team’s hopes of a comfortable win.  

The fourth quarter was another onslaught by the Redskins that was fought off by Ben Nelson’s 4- point burst and the continuation of Matthew Overton’s 3-point run for the evening.  

This was just enough to carry the Maroons into the win column with a 47-42 score.  

Matthew Overton led the Maroons with 17 points (15 of those points on 3-point baskets).  In the post game interview Coach Haurberg stated, “Sullivan’s kids are gritty and play extremely hard on defense.  They are a much improved team since the start of the year, and they gave us all we wanted tonight.  Kudos to our kids for hanging tough and getting our conference record back to even.”  The Maroons are now 8-12 overall and 2-2 in conference play. 

The hometown junior varsity Maroons took on their Sullivan Redskins counterparts as well.  

The Redskins took a slight early lead, and the first quarter ended with the opposition up by 3 points.  By the end of the first half, in spite of the tough play by the Maroons, the Redskins had added a point to the lead, heading into the locker room up 23-19.  

After some soul searching and regrouping, the Maroons returned to the court and turned a 4-point deficit into a 6-point lead by the end of the third quarter.  However, the Redskins took control in the fourth quarter on a 15-8-point run to reverse the lead and win 45-44.  The Redskins capitalized on late fouls, hitting many of their free throws.