Friday night’s matchup between North Marion at Eastside wasn’t a pretty display of basketball by any means.

According to North Marion coach Timothy Yarn, it was a “typical North Marion-Eastside game,” as the Colts defeated the Rams, 41-31.

The Rams only managed to score only 11 total points in the first half, including a 4-point first quarter.

“Always a defensive battle. Both of us pride ourselves on our defense,” Yarn said. “Low scoring, physical basketball game. Wouldn’t expect nothing else coming up to their house.”

Eastside still managed to keep it a one-possession game in the fourth quarter, but from there, the Colts took over.

Midway through the fourth quarter, back-to-back three-pointers by North Marion’s Jerdarrius Jackson and Titus Williams gave the Colts a 9-point lead, and a two-hand putback dunk by Elija Walton iced the game with four minutes left.

“Momentum definitely changed after making two big shots like that,” Yarn said. “That 3 ball, that changes the game. To get two in a row definitely helped us out.”

The Colts led for nearly the entire game, taking a 20-11 lead into the half and outscoring the Rams 14-10 in the final quarter. Eastside outpaced North Marion 10-7 in the third quarter to cut the lead.

Eastside coach Herman “Pop” Williams said he was curious to see how his team would perform after a tough 55-43 loss Thursday to Buchholz. Overall, he was impressed by his defense but said that poor shot selection and turnovers cost them.

“Just poor (shot) selection, and we had too many turnovers,” he said. “Once we started to turn the ball over, I think we lost confidence in trying to get stuff done.”

North Marion’s Jermaine Jackson Jr. led all scorers with 13 points. He accounted for 7 of the Colts’ 9 first-quarter points. Brenden Barber added 8 points with 6 points in the second half.

Eastside’s Bryan Hayes hit a trio of 3-pointers, including two in the second half to keep the Rams in the game. Davion Pugh added 9 points, including 5 points in the third quarter. Senior Shelton Hall, who came into Friday’s game leading the team with 9.7 points per game, was held scoreless.

Eastside (9-9), will make a trip across town to P.K. Yonge on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. before traveling to Citra for a rematch with the Colts (13-5) the following Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.