By Joe Catapano
The Land held The Hateful 8 scoreless in the first 9 minutes and 55 seconds of their matchup Tuesday night. Joey Marino’s 3-pointer with only a few seconds remaining in the first quarter ended The Land’s 24-0 run to start the game, and the lead would only grow from there.
After Michael Cody missed the potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer last week, The Land was finally able to secure a victory, dominating the Hateful 8, 84-30. Brett Cody posting a massive triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 16 rebounds and ten steals.
The Cody brothers and Alec Ward clicked in the same game for the first time this season, a big reason why The Land was able to get into the win column after an 0-3 start to the season. Michael Cody scored 15 points on 63.6 percent shooting, while Ward added 21 points of his own.
“We’re feeling pretty good right now,” The Land’s Pete Gage said after the game. “[We] got that win, hopefully more to come.”
Gage was the fourth player on the Land to post in double figures, finishing the game with ten points and six rebounds.
Nobody on The Hateful 8 was able to break the 10-point mark this week, but their offense appeared to make a small stride in the right direction. Just a week after they were held to six first-half points, The Hateful 8 moved the ball much better, and even started to hit the offensive glass. They finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds as a team, seven of them coming from Stephen Petrahai.
“We’re getting better every week,” Kyle Awad said. “Last week we got crushed, but I think we’re improving.” Awad finished the game with a team-high nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Land (1-3) will face another favorable matchup next week when they square off against the winless And-1 (0-4), while the Hateful 8 (0-4) will have likely have their hands full with Shaq Holman and his Run TMC squad.
