Warriors come up short at Inman
For the Marion Warriors, the Inman Tournament last Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday is an experience best forgotten.
The Marion boys dropped all three tourney games coming up short against Inman in the opener 49-50 on Tuesday; then losing 40-52 to St. John's Thursday, and finally taking the plunge at the hands of Burrton Friday, 51-61.
Overall, Marion head coach Rex Ostmeyer commended the play of Jason Matz who lead the team in scoring all three outings tallying 14 against Inman, 8 against St. John's and 16 against Burrton.
Inman
Losing by a heartbreaking one point, 49-50, the Marion boys missed a number of chances.
The game see-sawed back and forth throughout with the Marion boys coming up short.
"We had the ball twice in the last 12 seconds and were down by one point but we just couldn't get the ball in," said Marion head coach Rex Ostmeyer.
"Inman is a very good team," Ostmeyer said "They're one of the top five teams in 2-A."
Ostmeyer said Brian Bina had a "great game all around."
Marion - 49, inman - 50
Marion 11 15 11 12 49
Total points — Jason Matz, 14; Brian Bina, 12; Joel Versch, 5; Matt Rhodes, 5; Jared Hett, 1; Mitch Enos, 3; Tyler Stubenhofer, 6; Alan Vogel, 6.
St. John's
Although the loss, 40-52, doesn't really reflect it, Marion was probably the better team in the game against St. John's.
"I really believe that in most aspects of the game we outplayed St. John's," Ostmeyer said. "But as a group we were the team that couldn't shoot straight. We were only 36 percent from the floor, and for much of the game we were worse than that."
At the free throw line the Warriors were outscored by 15. Inman was 21 out of 33, while Marion was six for 11.
"We played better, we rebounded better. We just couldn't get the ball into the basket," Ostmeyer said. "Unfortunately, that's the name of the game."
Marion - 40, inman - 52
Marion 10 7 7 16 40
Total points — Brian Bina, 2; Jason Matz, 8; Joel Versch, 5; Jared Hett, 4; Eric Smith, 1; Tyler Stubenhofer, 6; Clayton Chamberlind, 2. Alan Vogel, 8; Tyler Smith, 2.
Burrton
After three games in four days, the Marion Warriors basically ran out of gas by the time they met the Burrton team Friday night coming home with a 10 point loss, 51-61.
"They had one player that scored 27 points who we really couldn't stop," Ostmeyer said.
The Warriors came in 3 for 4 at the free throw line, compared to Burrton which was 18 for 21.
"We're doing everything we need to do except at the free throw line and making shots," the coach said.
Marion - 40, inman - 52
Marion 10 7 7 16 40
Total points — Brian Bina, 9; Jason Matz, 16; Jared Hett, 8; Eric Smith, 4; Tyler Stubenhofer, 2; Clayton Chamberlind, 2. Alan Vogel, 6; Tyler Smith, 4.
The Warriors began Cottonwood Valley League competition Tuesday night hosting Chase County. They're at home Friday with Council Grove.
"Both are teams we can beat and our kids know it," Ostmeyer said. "We have a lot of confidence knowing that if we come out play well, execute, and shoot well we'll do all right.
"Hopefully, we'll get off to a good start in league play," he said.
