Trojans wear down Warriors with strong second-half surge
Sports reporter
For most of the first quarter Friday Marion High School boys' basketball team had the fire and intensity it needed to defeat Hillsboro for the first time in 12 years.
Then Kyle Kroeker came along.
His three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in the opening quarter gave Hillsboro a 13-12 lead and the momentum.
Although MHS took a 14-13 lead at the start of the second, the Trojans then used a 10-0 run to re-claim the lead they would never relinquish, en route to a 55-41 victory.
"Our main focus going into the game was to make sure we played with confidence and aggressiveness, and not worry about the name on the front of their jersey," head coach Rex Ostmeyer said. "I thought we did that, but we really struggled offensively."
It was the fourth straight game Marion has scored in the forties, three of them losses.
After the 10-0 run, MHS won the rest of the quarter 7-5, and trailed 28-21 at the break.
Both defenses played well to start the third quarter, as Marion outscored Hillsboro 5-4 throughout the first half of the quarter.
But then came another run.
Leading 32-26, the Trojans rattled off another 10 straight points to lead 42-26.
Before the run MHS missed open shots, including a layup, and turned the ball over. Its good defense early in the quarter was marred by a lack of scoring.
"We felt OK at halftime because we had withstood a little run in the second quarter," Ostmeyer said. "We easily could have tied it or had a two-point game, but we didn't take advantage of our opportunities, which you have to do against a team like Hillsboro."
Foul trouble plagued Marion as well. Leading scorer Jason Hett picked up his fourth foul with seven minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter. He finished the game with just eight points.
"Jason's foul trouble was hard on us," Ostmeyer said. "Not only because it took him off his game offensively, but also because he wasn't allowed to guard [Lucas] Hamm, which was a good match-up for us."
The 6-3 power forward played a big role in the 10-0 run and scored most of his 15 points while Hett wasn't guarding him. He also added seven rebounds and four assists.
Emmanuel Jackson also picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and was limited to zero points in just 10 minutes.
Travis Hett tried to pick up the slack for Marion with a season-high 24 points on 8-15 shooting. He was 4-8 from behind the three-point arc.
"I thought Travis was very good," Ostmeyer said. "Not only basically carrying us on offense, but he did a great job on the defensive end as well."
It was going to take more than one great offensive performance to defeat the balanced Trojans, who had three scorers in double-digits. Kroeker led Hillsboro with 20 points on 6-9 shooting, and 6-6 from the foul line.
Hamm was next with 15 points, and Wade Weibert added 10 points.
"We got solid defensive efforts from a number of guys, Josh [Kelsey], Russell [Ploutz], played well defensively," Ostmeyer said. "But we couldn't get that extra scoring threat established."
The loss dropped MHS to 2-2 in the Mid-Central Activities Association, and 4-9 overall. The Warriors played host Tuesday to Smoky Valley and travel Friday to play Nickerson.
