Warriors fall in first game of Trojan Classic
By ERIC CLARK
Sports editor
An early deficit spelled doom for the Marion boys' basketball team Monday night against Hesston. The Warriors fell to the Swathers, 59-38.
"They had some early runs in the game, and we were playing catch-up from there," head coach Rex Ostmeyer said.
Marion fell behind in the early minutes of the first quarter and eventually headed into the second quarter trailing 12-7. In the second quarter, Hesston connected on several three-point attempts and extended their lead to 14 by the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, Marion rallied back closing the margin to as little as 11 twice in the quarter.
The Swathers outscored the Warriors 16-11 in the final quarter to hand Marion the third loss of the year, and a first-round loss in the Trojan Classic tournament.
Jared Hett led the Warriors in scoring with 11 points, seven points coming in the first half. Seniors Tyler Smith and Nickolas Hett finished with eight and seven points respectively.
The Warriors battled Belleville Tuesday night in the second-round of the Trojan Classic. Full results from Tuesday and Saturday's games will appear in next week's Marion County Record.
Wichita Independent
Tyler Stubenhofer's last-second shot Friday night helped propel the Warriors past the Wichita Independent Panthers in overtime at home. The Warriors defeated the Panthers, 40-39 for their fifth consecutive Cottonwood Valley League win.
Marion shot 31 percent for the contest and connected on 22 percent of their shots within two to four feet from the basket. The Warriors out-rebounded the Panthers 31-25, despite giving up several inches to the Wichita team.
The Panthers outscored the Warriors 15-10 in the opening quarter, but MHS held Independent to four points in the second to take a 19-18 lead into the locker room at half.
After holding the Panthers to six points in the third quarter and scoring nine points of their own, the Warriors were outscored in the final quarter 12-10.
The real action started with under a minute remaining in the final quarter of regulation play. Marion trailed by as many as five and cut the lead to just three with less than 20 seconds in the game.
After stopping the Panthers on the defensive end, Marion had a chance with less than five seconds left on the clock.
The ball was in-bounded at the other end of the court. As the time melted from the clock, Stubenhofer split through the defense and heaved a three-point shot from the top of the key — the ball hit the rim, sailed into the air, and fell through the net to send the game into overtime.
Smith scored all of Marion's overtime points.
Wichita Trinity
Late-game execution and an offensive burst Jan. 13 helped fuel the Marion boys' basketball team past Wichita Trinity Academy, 40-38.
The Warriors jumped out to an early 12-8 lead in the first quarter, but the Knights rallied back in the second quarter to knot things up at 21 before intermission, outscoring Marion 13-9.
In the third quarter, it looked as though the Knights would run away with the game, holding Marion to four points, while snagging seven of their own.
But in the final quarter, Marion scored 15 points and held Trinity to 10 points to take a two-point win.
As a team, Marion connected on just 13 of 46 attempts from the field, but were 33 percent from behind the arc. The Warriors also shot 69 percent from the charity stripe.
Smith led the Warriors in scoring with 11 points, three rebounds, and a steal. Stubenhofer finished with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals to complement Smith's performance.
Currently, Marion is 7-3 overall, and 5-0 in the CVL, prior to Tuesday's contest with Belleville and this Saturday's match-up with an undetermined opponent.
