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The San Marcos Rattlers defeated the Judson Rockets 100-62 for the 33rd victory on the season breaking a school record. Above, Jayven Cofer tries to split between the two Judson defenders
Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo

San Marcos defeats Judson for historic win

SMHS BASKETBALL
Thursday, February 9, 2023

It was a history-making victory for San Marcos as the Rattlers defeated the Converse Judson Rockets 100-62 for a record-breaking 33rd season win.

Breaking the mark set by both the 1964-1965 team, who won the state championship, and the 1982-1983 team, the win was a feel good moment for senior shooting forward Malik Presley, who led the team with 26 points and 10 rebounds, as he works towards his goal in etching his name in the history books.

“It feels great,” Presley said. “It’s something I’ve been working towards since freshman year. That has been my plan to leave my mark here at San Marcos High School. Now that I’ve finally done that, it feels good. But we are not done yet.”

One of the keys to victory for the Rattlers was starting the game off on the right foot.

With the Rattlers sometimes not getting off to a good start, Head Coach Dan Miller wanted to focus on coming out of the gates on fire.

“I thought our guys came out with great intensity from the start,” Miller said. “We had a few starts in district play that haven’t been as crisp as we wanted them to be. We said tonight that we have to get off to a good start.”

The results for San Marcos was the Rattlers jumping out to a 18-2 to start off the first quarter before ending the period with a 24-7 lead.

While the offense got to rolling in the first quarter, it was the defense that was making the key stops.

“We made the adjustments from last time,” Presley said. “We knew they (Judson) like to get into making easy shots, which they made a couple of. Our game plan was to take what they love to do away and get out there to run our offense.”

Mateus Perkins, who finished the game with 11 points and 10 rebounds, pointed out the defensive play of junior guard Zyair Jolivette that helped the Rattlers in the first quarter.

“Zy (Zyair Jolivette) was doing a great job on No. 5 out there,” Perkins said. “He was getting into his shooting areas, so he couldn’t get off his easy shots like he did last game. It started with his (Jolivette) defense, which gave us the energy to go from there.”

An important aspect of playing defense against Judson that Miller wanted from his team was showcasing their defensive vigor.

“We had the intensity on defense,” Miller said. “We knew that we didn’t want them to be there at the end of the game, because they are a dangerous shooting team. We really needed to jump on them. I thought our guys had great intensity and focus from beginning to end.”

With San Marcos breaking the record of most wins in a season, the main aspect to the Rattlers success this season is focusing on the now rather than the future.

“This team is a special group,” Miller said. “We don’t talk about the long term but rather being more concerned about where our feet are and staying in the moment. That is what keeps this team doing what they are doing. Now we have to do that again because we are turning around quickly to get on the road and play in a tough environment.”

As New Braunfels lost their game against Schertz Clemens, San Marcos clinched at least a share of the district title for the first time since the 1998-1999 season.

The Rattlers will now play for the outright district championship as they travel down I-35 for another heated showdown with the rival Unicorns.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m. Friday Night at New Braunfels High School.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc

San Marcos Record

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