Marion responds to loss with 30-point win years ago
Warriors rebound from Herington
loss with drubbing
of Sacred Heart
By ERIC CLARK
Sports Editor
After a loss to Herington less than 24 hours prior, the Marion boys' basketball team responded positively Saturday afternoon by defeating the Sacred Heart Knights, 82-52 in a rescheduled match-up.
The night before, the Warriors watched as Herington scorched the nets with hot shooting.
On Saturday, the Warriors followed the example of their CVL foes, scoring at will against the Knights.
"That's the best we've played offensively all season," said head coach Rex Ostmeyer of his team's performance. "Everyone contributed to the cause and ultimately it helped us walk away with the win."
At the onset, the Warriors and Knights were knotted after a quarter of play at 14. But in the second quarter, Marion began to heat up scoring 28 points to the Knights' 16 to take a 12-point lead into the locker room at half-time. The Warriors outscored Sacred Heart 18-17 in the third quarter, before pouring it on in the fourth quarter with a 22-5 fourth-quarter scoring performance.
The Warrior offense was paced by senior Nickolas Hett, who finished with 17 points — 15 from behind the arc. Freshman Jason Hett netted a career-high 15 points, all of which came in the second quarter, while his brother Jared and teammate Joe Svitak each finished with 10.
Herington
Despite shooting 48 percent from the field Friday night against Herington, the Warriors fell short at the foul line and the Railers made good from the charity stripe to hand Marion their first Cottonwood Valley League loss of the season. The Warriors fell to the Railers 68-63.
The two teams battled back and forth throughout the basketball game. At half-time, the two teams were seperated by three points, with Marion leading, 27-24, at the intermission.
In the third quarter, the Railers nipped the Warriors by one, outscoring Marion 18-17.
It was the final frame of the ball game that proved to be so costly for the Warriors. Herington outscored the Warriors 26-19, most of which came from the free throw line.
Marion's Joe Svitak led the offensive attack with 14 points, followed by Jared Hett and Nickolas Hett who finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Wichita Independent
In a pivotal CVL match-up between the league's top two teams, the Marion Warriors held off the Wichita Independent Panthers 58-56 to stay atop the league as the only unbeaten team.
The Panthers shot out to an early 4-0 advantage in the first few minutes of the ball game. But the Warriors battled back. Dale Vogel's jumper from the baseline gave Marion a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Marion's shooting went south — the team failed to convert a field goal in the quarter, but managed to snag nine points from the free throw line. At the end of two quarters, the Warriors had a 23-19 advantage.
The Warriors came out in the second half and took an early 31-23 lead, but the Panthers clawed their way back into the game and knotted the game up at 37 to close out the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Marion jumped out to a 48-40 lead before Independent battled back behind several three pointers.
With less than a minute remaining, the Panthers trailed by five points, eerily reminiscent of the game the two teams played several weeks ago — this time, in favor of the Panthers.
But the Warrior defense remained resilient, and Marion came away with the two-point victory.
Next up
The Warriors are now 12-5 overall and 8-1 in the CVL.
The Marion team hosted Wichita Trinity Academy Tuesday night. The team is scheduled to travel Tueday to Council Grove, and close out the regular season Feb. 26 at home against Chase County.
