WATERLOO — The Marshalltown boys’ basketball team suffered a scoreless stretch of more than four minutes during the third quarter that helped Waterloo East pull away for a 52-44 win over the Bobcats in Tuesday’s Iowa Alliance Conference clash.

Marshalltown (3-5, 1-2) trailed by four points at the half, 23-19, and a layup by Drake Gersema got the Bobcats back to within two with 5:46 left in the third period. Waterloo East (3-4, 2-1) proceeded to go on a 13-0 run spanning 4:29, sending MHS into a 15-point deficit it couldn’t overcome.

Marshalltown scored the last four points of the third, and a back-and-forth fourth quarter followed. The Bobcats scrambled to within five, 49-44, but time expired on the comeback.

“Give our guys a lot of credit for not giving up, they kept fighting and found a way to get some easy baskets and score and got back in there a little bit,” said MHS head coach Michael Appel. “The third quarter was a rough one for us. That was the difference in the game. Their pressure really affected us tonight. We had 18 turnovers and they got a lot of easy baskets from that.”

Kyle Smith led MHS with 18 points. No other statistics were available as of press time.

The Bobcats are back at home on Friday night, facing Ames at 7:45 p.m. inside the Roundhouse.

Waterloo East 52, Marshalltown 44

MARSHALLTOWN (3-5, 1-2) — Jamison Niehouse 2 0-2 4, Drake Gersema 5 1-4 12, Kyle Smith 6 0-0 18, LaMar Johnson 1 1-2 3, Jacob Hayes 3 1-1 7, Adam Boone 0 0-0 0, Zane Moore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 3-9 44.

WATERLOO EAST (3-4, 2-1) — Ke’Andre Owens 3 0-0 6, Quenden Hart 1 1-1 3, Da’Shaundis Moore 5 2-6 13, Gianni Gary 4 2-8 10, Jeremiah Clark 5 1-4 12, Jadyn Perkins 1 0-0 2, Da Sann Means 0 2-4 2, Isaiah Thomas 0 0-0 0, Jeremy Waters-Wright 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 8-23 52.

MHS 5 14 6 19 — 44

W’LOO EAST 13 10 13 16 — 52

3-Point Goals–MHS 3 (Smith 2, Gersema), WE 1 (Moore). Team Fouls–MHS 21, WE 16. Fouled Out–Hart.