Tigers' Jack Marinko once again ready to help his team as competition gets tough

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Dec 9, 2017 6:39 AM

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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville senior basketball player Jack Marinko had a very good night Friday, as he scored 25 points in helping the Tigers hold off Collinsville 45-42 in a Southwestern Conference tilt at Lucco-Jackson Gym.

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The Tigers prevailed in a tough, defensive struggle that wasn’t decided until the very end, when a long in-bounds pass in the final seconds was knocked down. Marinko credits his team’s hard work in practice in being prepared for the situation.

“It comes from working late in practice every day,” Marinko said. “Like 5, 5:30, we work on late game situations like that. I thought it really paid off today.”

The Kahoks also played well defensively, making things difficult for Marinko and the Tigers in the first half. Marinko started finding his range from behind the three-point line in the third quarter. It helped make the difference.

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“They came out; they knew what they were doing,” Marinko said. “They were boxing on me from the start, but I thought we had stuff to do every time down the floor. In the third quarter, I thought we really took off and played good defense, and got the shots that we wanted.”

Edwardsville is off to another very good start, going to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference. Marinko and his teammates will be ready for any and all challengers they’ll face.

“Yeah, I’m ready for good competition every Tuesday and Friday from here on out,” Marinko said. “We’re already looking forward to the Collinsville (Holiday) tournament, and each Tuesday and Friday, getting ready for each game.”

And most of those nights, those games will be in a very good and competitive Southwestern Conference. Marinko and the Tigers will also be ready for those games.

“Every time we step on the floor, we know it’s going to be competitive,” Marinko said. “No team takes us light; they always want to beat us. But we want to beat them, too. So, it’s very competitive.”

And when it’s tip-off time and the Tigers take the floor, you can expect Jack Marinko to be at his best in helping Edwardsville be among the best in its 2017-18 season.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.