By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

The Marion boys made use of home-court advantage Monday, securing a 55-39 victory over Rossville in the first round of sub state.

The second seeded Warriors took a commanding 18-5 in the first quarter, helped along by seven apiece from Evann Heidebrecht and Chase Stringer.

Rossville managed to take the second quarter 13-9, leaving Marion with a 27-18 lead going into the half.

The Warriors never lost the lead, though, putting the game away with a 17-point third quarter, pushing the lead to 44-27.

Despite letting the gap shrink in the first half, coach Terry Edwards was happy to keep the season going a few more days.

“Our season is extended another game, I’ll take the win,” he said. “Gritty or ugly, it doesn’t matter right now. It’s our March Madness, it’s our playoff time.”

One strong point for Marion was turnovers. While the Warriors tallied close to 20 in each of their previous three games, they had just 12 Monday.

They had no trouble creating turnovers, either. Marion forced 18 out of Rossville, and cut back from 10 fouls in the first half, to four in the second.

Scoring summary: Stringer, 19; Heidebrecht, 11; Noah Dalrymple, 7; Sam Zinn, 7; Brandon Nguyen, 6; Jaxton Tracy, 5.

Girls

The Marion girls closed their season Tuesday with a 56-13 loss to Northern Heights in the first round of sub state.

The Warriors ended the season with a 4-17 overall record.