Trashawn Gregory (white) fights through two Marlboro defenders for a layup Tuesday night.
Scotland allowed just 19 second half points against the Bulldogs, forcing Marlboro to miss nine of their last 10 shots from the floor.
Head coach Jackie Amos said his team talked about their defensive intensity for this contest and how it would affect their play.
"I told the kids that if they went out and played hard defense and rebound the ball, then everything else would take care of itself," Amos said. "That's what we haven't been doing the last few games. I think that was the key tonight. It was our defensive effort."
Scotland’s Tony Deberry opened the contest with the game’s first four points, but the Scot went down after his second basket and headed into the locker room.
Scotland ballooned their early lead to 8-2, but the Bulldogs rallied back to score nine straight points, taking an 11-8 lead into the second quarter.
The two teams traded baskets in the second frame, with neither team taking more than a 5-point lead in the quarter.
Scotland took a 24-22 lead with 27 seconds left in the half on a Naime Gibson layup, but the Bulldogs tied the game at 24-24 with a basket of their own right before the break.
In the third quarter, Scotland’s defense shined, allowing the Bulldogs just five points in the next eight minutes.
Scotland finished the quarter on an 8-point run, with Ryan Scott fueling the run with a put-back layup and Ryan Leak adding a spark of his own with two 3-pointers to end the half, including a half-court buzzer beater with time expiring in the quarter.
With a 37-29 lead heading into the final period, Marlboro battled back to within one point of the Scots at 40-39 with 4:30 left in the game, but over the last three minutes, the Scotland defense forced nine missed Bulldog’s shots, finishing the game on an 8-4 run to seal with win.
"We went to a little zone because when we played man-to-man they were getting by us pretty easy," Amos said. "In a zone you have two guys near the ball at all times and it's hard to penetrate and get a good shot off against the zone. The kids played well. They did what they needed to do to get the win."
The Scots held a balanced scoring attack, with Gibson leading the way with 10 points.
Scotland’s Trashawn Gregory and Leak added eight apiece to the Scots’ scoring total, with Artemis Robinson, Deberry and Joe Sojka adding seven, six and five points, respectively.
"The kids worked well and played well together tonight," Amos said. "We just have guys scrambling around the court because they want to play. We got blown out (when we went to Marlboro) and they just wanted to even things up and they did a good job. We didn't do much on offense, but the game was won on the defensive end of the floor."
Scotland will next be in action after Christmas break, taking the court on Jan. 4 at home against Anson.
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