Kyle Smith led the Bobcats with 30 points, including 14 points in the third quarter to help Marshalltown rally from a 27-20 halftime deficit to a brief 34-31 lead midway through the third.

The Railsplitters closed the third quarter on an 8-3 run and outscored the Bobcats 11-4 to start the fourth quarter, MHS couldn’t get within eight points of the Rails the rest of the night.

Desmon Campbell led Lincoln with 16 points.

“There were a lot of uncontested shots for them,” MHS head coach Michael Appel said. “Whether they were going to the rim and we weren’t getting in front of them, not contesting the open threes, or the turnovers to get them out in transition for easy baskets, you take away a lot of those easy ones and it’s a different game.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - MHS sophomore guard Drake Gersema (3) is surrounded by Des Moines Lincoln defenders as he shoots during the second half of Tuesday’s basketball game at the Roundhouse.

Smith made six 3-pointers on Tuesday, and scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half.

“I think he tried to force it a little bit too much in the start,” Appel said. “We’ve got to find ways to get him the ball in positions where he can drive it and support in other ways to get him going. He got a lot more easier looks in that third quarter.”

Drake Gersema contributed nine points for the Bobcats as one of several new faces in the Bobcat rotation.

“Drake did a great job at the point for us, and Jamison [Niehouse] gave us some great minutes as well,” Appel said. “Will Swartz, Arion Hancock, Adam Boone, you go down the line that’s a lot of guys playing a lot of varsity minutes for the first time, and their buy-in is there. They want to get better, they want to improve. They know they didn’t play their best game today, but we’re going to watch some film, make some corrections, and I know these guys are invested.”

Appel took the blame for not going to more pressure defense late in the game, where Marshalltown was able to get some positive momentum with turnovers in the press, but just too little, too late.

“We haven’t had a chance to work on that a whole lot, too. There’s a lot more things on our priority list,” Appel said. “But our guys did a good job of picking up on it.”

The Bobcats head to Newton on Thursday for the first of a back-to-back road series.

“We’ve got to learn from this and make some corrections and be ready and prepared for Newton on Thursday,” Appel said.

Des Moines Lincoln 59, Marshalltown 51

DM LINCOLN (1-0) — Lionel Parks 3 1-1 7, Sullivan Suarez Quilty 1 0-0 3, Desmon Campbell 5 4-6 16, Mike Mitchell 3 0-0 9, Charles Fry 5 1-2 11, Manas Gai 0 0-0 0, Juju Brown 1 2-2 4, Bryce Page 3 0-0 8, Keaton Wikoff-Harris 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 21 9-13 59.

MARSHALLTOWN (0-1) — Drake Gersema 4 0-0 9, Kyle Smith 10 4-4 30, LaMar Johnson 2 1-2 5, Jacob Hayes 1 0-0 3, Arion Hancock 0 0-0 0, Jamison Niehouse 1 0-0 2, Adam Boone 0 0-0 0, Will Swartz 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 5-6 51.

DM LINCOLN 13 14 12 20 — 59

MHS 11 9 17 14 — 51

3-Point Goals–Lincoln 8 (Mitchell 3, Campbell 2, Page 2, Suarez Quilty), MHS 8 (Smith 6, Gersema, Hayes). Team Fouls–Lincoln 9, MHS 13. Fouled Out–none.