Dempsey reaches 1,000 points in Muskies upset over John Carroll

NEW CONCORD, Ohio — Marcus Dempsey became the 32nd player in Muskingum men’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points in the Muskies 112-103 win over no. 23 John Carroll on Saturday afternoon.

On-top of his career scoring honors, Dempsey also set the school’s single-season scoring record. With his 39-points on Saturday, Dempsey now has 570 points for the season– with six games to play. Dempsey is just a sophomore.

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Muskies had lost four of their previous five games, slipping to 5-6 in OAC play, and just 7-11 overall on the season. Muskingum also dropped their previous meeting with John Carroll by 41 points, 115-74, back on December 2nd. Dempsey wanted to make sure there was no repeat performance at the Anne C. Steele Center on Saturday afternoon.

“We just had a big chip on our shoulder. We wanted to come in here and play hard on defense and try to get rebounds, and we were able to pull it out,” said Dempsey.

It’s been an up-and-down year for the Muskies, both on and off the court. Dempsey became the second Muskie this season to reach the 1,000-point club– Junior Jarrell Marsh became the 31st player to reach the milestone in a loss to Waynesburg back on December 20th. Marsh tragically passed away in a car accident the following afternoon, and Dempsey says it means a lot be part of a group that includes his former teammate.

“Everything we’ve gone through this season, with ‘Rell being a thousand-point scorer, and my dad was a thousand-point scorer here. It just means a lot to me to be part of such a special club,” Dempsey said.

In a back-and-forth game all afternoon, Dempsey had the hot-hand throughout. The game was tied 50-50 after the first 20 minutes, where Dempsey scored 22 points, leaving him just five points shy of the 1,000 mark.

But Dempsey had plenty of help from his teammates as well. Junior Devon Peart went 9-13 from the field and 14-15 from the free-throw line to chip in 34-points for Muskingum. Fellow Junior Jayson Peoples kept an electric crowd rocking all afternoon with his long-range shooting as well. Peoples went 5-7 from three-point range on his way to chipping in 17 points in the win.

The Muskies trailed 79-77 with just under 10 minutes to play when a 12-0 run saw them take an 89-79 lead which they never forfeited. Dempsey finished 11-19 from the field, 4-8 from three-point range, and tallied 12 rebounds to go along with this 39 points.

And being from the area and a Tri-Valley graduate, Dempsey said his team’s win and his big day meant that much more to him.

“There’s just a lot of people coming to our games and supporting us from the area, and it just means so much to me that I can play in front of my family and friends every time.”

The Muksies are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Wilmington to take on the Quakers.