Many around Marion's boys basketball team felt like this year's outfit could be one of the better shooting teams the school has seen in some years. Friday night's home game inside Fidelity Bank Arena against Batesville was proof. The Patriots made eight three-pointers en route to a scorching 24 of 50 shooting performance from the floor in a 59-34 conquest of the Pioneers. “Really good win for us in a lot of areas,” said Marion coach Sammie Lewis. “We gave up 21 points in the first half and just 18 in the second half. The team that guarded in the second half is the team I expect to guard all the time, so I'm proud of them for doing that.” But early on, Batesville seemed intent on making it a game. The Pioneers claimed an early 10-4 lead, forcing Lewis to call for time. “That conversation was just about everything they were doing, which were things we'd scouted on them so far this year,” said Lewis. “They're good at all those things, and we knew that, but we weren't doing a good job defending that stuff. When we started to lock in is when we were able to get back into it and make a run.” The Patriots forced 14 Pioneer turnovers after the first quarter while committing just four of their own to pull away at home. Marion (16-5 overall, 4-1 5A East) got 15 points from Mikell Lewis, 14 from Jalen Neal, and 10 from Chandler Randle, while Lewis approached a double-double with eight rebounds. Batesville got 14 points from Ransom Dunlap, 11 from Talen Foree, and seven from Rafael Thomas in defeat. Batesville made six of its 13 field goals in the first quarter, running out to a 10-4 lead before Marion hit the Pioneers with a 10-3 run to close the quarter for a 14-13 lead after 8 minutes. Marion claimed its first double-digit lead (32-21) with 1:17 left in the second quarter on a Karlyal Hyland layup, and a Lewis stickback off an offensive rebound gave the Patriots a 34-21 halftime lead. Batesville trimmed the Marion lead to 10 points (39-29) after a pair of Thomas free throws in the third, but the Patriots scored the last 5 points of the frame to take a 44-29 lead after three quarters. Marion allowed Batesville to make just one of its eight field goal attempts in the fourth quarter to pull away. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion travels on Tuesday night to play the Valley View Blazers in Jonesboro. The girls varsity game will tip around 6 p.m., followed by the boys varsity contest at approximately 7:30 p.m. You can watch the Valley View varsity girls and boys contest for free on the MPAN YouTube channel, on the MPAN mobile app, or on MarionPatriots.com. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 1/24 Marion 59, Batesville 34 Nettleton 65, W. Memphis 58 Valley View 79, Greene Co. Tech 54 Paragould 49, Searcy 45 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 1/27 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Nettleton 4-0 Valley View 4-0 Marion 4-1 Greene Co. Tech 3-2 Paragould 2-3 W. Memphis 1-4 Batesville 0-4 Searcy 0-4 Top four teams make state tournament March 4-8 at Greene Co. Tech. 5A EAST GAMES ON 1/28 Marion at Valley View Greene Co. Tech at Batesville Searcy at W. Memphis Nettleton at Paragould