Marion head coach Sammie Lewis has held his team to high expectations during his first season with the Patriots, but even he was pleasantly surprised by his group's effort here on Friday night. Lewis's Patriots defended and harassed visiting Greene County Tech into a 10-of-42 shooting night from the floor as Marion rolled to a 66-39 victory inside Fidelity Bank Arena. "Wow, that's pretty good," said Lewis. "I thought we had a good plan coming into the game here tonight. We knew they could shoot it and make even tough shots, so our effort had to be really good. But we pulled it off and I'm proud of the guys for that." Marion moved its record to 17-6 overall and 5-2 in the 5A East so far this winter behind junior Chandler Randle's game-high 20 points with six rebounds, while Mikell Lewis struck for 14 points and five boards, and Dexter Higgins scored eight points and dished out four assists. Noah Oswalt led Greene County Tech with 13 points, while Carson McDaniel scored eight, and Parker Harris scored six. The Marion defensive effort won the day for the Patriots, but the hosts also outrebounded the Eagles 34-22, including eight offensive caroms. "That's vitally important for us because we need those extra possessions at times if the offense lulls," explained Lewis. "I thought tonight, they'd get back into it, and we'd miss a shot but we'd get the rebound and score and that gave us a lift." In fact, Mykal Knighten gave Marion its first double-digit lead in the first period (17-6) when he pulled down a Randle miss and scored a layup, and the Pats enjoyed a 20-10 lead entering the second stanza. Lewis slashed to the rim for a layup to give Marion its first 20-point lead of the night (34-14) with 2:13 left in the first half, and the Pats' lead was 38-16 at the break. Marion pulled away preventing Tech from making any of its 11 field goals in the second. "Just a really good showing by us in the second," said Lewis. "They missed a few that I'd say were open, but we didn't let them get too many open looks, and that's about effort." The Eagles got three-pointers from McDaniel, Luke Cancilla, Kason Scott, and Harris in the third, but Marion countered that by forcing 5 turnovers in that frame to lead 50-31 after three quarters. Marion took two 27-point leads in the fourth, including the final tally. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion returns to action on Friday night when the Patriots host West Memphis in a key 5A East matchup. Tipoff of the girls contest is scheduled for 6 p.m., while the boys game gets underway around 7:30 p.m. You can watch the varsity girls and boys contests for free on the MPAN YouTube channel, on MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app. RANKINGS RUNDOWN Marion is No. 17 in this week's ScoreBookLive.com Overall Top 25 ranking. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 1/31 Marion 66, Greene Co. Tech 39 Valley View 74, Nettleton 71 W. Memphis 82, Paragould 58 Searcy 48, Batesville 41 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 2/3 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Valley View 6-0 Nettleton 5-1 Marion 5-2 Greene Co. Tech 4-3 W. Memphis 3-4 Paragould 2-5 Searcy 1-5 Batesville 0-6 Top four teams make state tournament March 4-8 at Greene Co. Tech. 5A EAST GAMES ON 2/7 W. Memphis at Marion Valley View at Batesville Paragould at Greene Co. Tech Nettleton at Searcy