Winning a big game early in the season can do wonders for a team's confidence.

On Tuesday night in Hometown, Marian was able to get that confidence victory, defeating a talented Shenandoah Valley team 52-42.With the victory, the Colts are now 5-1 on the season, and have also kept themselves in the thick of the Schuylkill League Division 3 race, improving to 2-0."I talked to our guys before the game about how important our division games are, and we have a very critical stretch of division games coming," said Colts head coach John Patton. "Getting this one tonight was big. There's no nights off, this one was great to get, but we have to continue to stay focused and keep getting better."In the first quarter, it looked like the Devils were going to be able to shoot their way out of trouble. After the Colts got out to a five-point lead, Shenandoah used outside shooting to close the quarter on a 10-4 run to lead by four at the end of the first. The Devils hit three triples in the frame to acquire the advantage.After the first, however, the Devils went cold and the Colts got better. The game stayed close in the second, but the Colts would start to take control in the third.Colts big man Ryan Karchner started the Marian run in the third with five straight points to give Marian a four-point lead. From that point on, the Colts wouldn't relinquish the lead. A huge reason for that was the inside play of Karchner and Brandon Mohammed. Mohammed scored a team-high 16 points and controlled the paint and the glass from the onset, with Karchner helping out in that department in the second half. The Colts limited the Devils to a lot of shots outside the paint and even more one-and-done possessions."One of the things we keyed on with them is that we couldn't give them multiple shots on a possession with their ability to shoot," said Patton. "We definitely controlled the boards and even our guards were getting in there. It was one of our keys to winning the game and we executed it."A Tyler Fritz three-pointer at the start of the fourth gave Marian a seven-point lead and a ton of momentum. The Colts continued to keep the Devils off the boards and away from the bucket.The game-clinching score came with 2:26 remaining when Marian point guard Noah Stauffer finished a strong drive to the middle of the floor to give Marian a 10-point lead. That play served as the nail in the coffin for the Devils.Helping out Mohammed on the night was Stauffer with 10 points and Karchner with nine.For Shenandoah Valley, Joel Santana scored a game-high 22 points.CLUTCH AT THE LINE ... The Colts took advantage of their opportunities at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. They went 10-for-11 to help clinch the win.TAKING CARE ... The Colts had five turnovers in the second quarter, but after that they settled down. They turned the ball over just four times the rest of the way.SHENANDOAH VALLEYSantana 8-1-4-22, McNeil 1-2-2-5, Raisner 2-0-0-6, Uholik 1-0-0-2, Shenoster 2-0-2-5, Creasy 1-0-0-2, Alvarez 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-3-8-42.MARIANKarchner 4-1-2-9, Mohammed 5-6-6-16, Mummey 1-0-0-3, Stauffer 3-4-4-10, Fritz 2-0-1-6, Paisley 3-1-2-7, Collevechio 0-1-2-1, Maylath 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-13-17-52.Shenandoah Vy. 15 10 6 11 - 42Marian 11 13 11 17 - 52Three-pointers: Shenandoah - Santana 5, Raisner 2, McNeil 1, Shenoster 1; Marian - Fritz 2, Mummey 1.