Brayden Mescher scores two of his team-high 17 points through the teeth of Spencerville’s defense. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
With their most complete effort of the year, Marion Local improved to 19-1 on the season with their most ‘unexpected’ win of the season…67-53, over Spencerville.
Maria Stein, OH – There’s no doubt about it…in Maria Stein they’re just as excited about basketball on February 10th as they were for football in November.
“It is exciting,” said long-time Marion fan Jim Keller, following Monday night’s rescheduled 67-53 win over Spencerville (18-2), who entered the game with the identical 18-1 record as Marion’s.
“Oh my God, yes, it’s exciting,” Keller reiterated. “This team just finds ways to win and I think they might be more balanced than the 2018 team that won the state championship.”
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And it’s a team that’s obviously not afraid to play to the anticipation of its critics, including its head coach, Kurt Goettemoeller, who insists that as good as they’re playing at 19-1, and a #2 seed following Sunday’s tournament draw (Spencerville got the #1 seed), they can still play better.
A team, by the way, that people had questioned prior to the weekend…as to how they would match up, head-to-head, with the only team to have taken down last week’s #1 in Division VII, Delphos St. John (65-61).
Well, they may not have satisfied Goettemoeller, but they certainly silenced the critical public with Monday night’s 67-53 win, a game that they led by as much as 2o points in the fourth quarter before Goettemoeller went to his bench for the final two minutes.
Their most complete game of the season, and a tick better than last Friday’s 55-48 win over Coldwater, Marion got balanced scoring with three in double figures, Brayden Mescher (17), Austin Niekamp (15), and Kale Ahrens (14), while openly frustrating Spencerville’s high powered attack of Will and Owen Sensabaugh, and Carder Orr.
They got their points, but they had to work…Spencerville’s Owen Sensabaugh goes face-to-face with Marion Local’s Kale Ahrens.
The Sensabaughs and Orr got their points (49, combined), but they couldn’t overcome the balance that Jim Keller talked about. Mescher, Niekamp and Ahrens combined for 46, while the complementary scorers, Grant Kremer (8), Daniel Everman (7), Dylan Dirksen (2), Ryan Homan (2), and Oliver Huelsman (2) chipped in an additional 21. Spencerville got just 4 points outside of the 49 by the Sensabaughs and Orr.
The two actually matched baskets for the first eight minutes, and Everman’s 3-pointer, and one by Grant Kremer, along with 6 points from Brayden Mescher were the difference in a 20-15 Marion first quarter lead.
But make no mistake, Spencerville, and the Sensabaugh brothers are for real, riding Owen’s 7 points in the first, and Will’s 8 in the second to narrow Marion’s lead to just 3 points, 32-29 at halftime…thanks in large part to the combined 10 points from the Flyers’ Daniel Everman and Austin Niekamp.
But the third quarter was a back-breaker for Spencerville, who couldn’t find the basket with a bloodhound. Their only points came from Will Sensabaugh (3) and Carder Orr (2)…while Marion got into transition and 18 points to take a 50-34 lead by the end of the quarter. The trigger man was again Brayden Mescher, who followed his 18 points in Friday’s win over Coldwater, with another consistent effort, scoring 8 on the front end, and 7 in the second half to finish with a team-high 17 points.
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“It was great,” said the Flyers’ junior, afterwards. “I mean, our fans showed out tonight, our players showed out, and we knew it was going to be a good game. They’re a great team, but our energy was just out of the roof tonight. I think that was the difference.
“We tried to match their physical play, we were aggressive all night…we went right at ’em. I think that’s what it was. It’s an exciting time, yes it is.”
Marioin’s Austin Niekamp challenges the shot attempt of Spencerville’s Carder Orr.
The lead surpassed 20 points for a few moments in the fourth quarter, before Goettemoeller went to his bench, and before Spencerville closed with 19 points, their best quarter of the game. But Marion’s consistent effort – 20 in the first, 12 in the second, 18 in the third and 17 in the fourth quarter served as their answer to those who wondered, before-hand, how they would match up against Spencerville.
“I’m not sure that they weren’t sand-bagging a little, because they didn’t show their arsenal on offense,” smiled Goettemoeller. “But this was a good win for us because that’s a good basketball team. And they may have changed up some things on defense, too. But whatever, this should build some confidence for our guys. And heading into tournament we’ve got two big games left with Minster and Russia.
“And to be honest, it’s kind of a weird game because it came after the tournament draw. And you know that if we can get through some land mines with teams we’d have to beat…that they (Spencerville) could very well be sitting in the district final. So it was a weird game from that standpoint.”
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Weird now, because Spencerville came out of Sunday’s draw as a #1 seed. Marion got the #2 seed. Who knew, eh?
Balance, yes, but Marion’s defense was the difference in the game, something that Goettemoeller had harped on following Friday’s win over Coldwater. They were good, yes, but they could be much better.
Austin Niekamp drives past Spencerville defender Carder Orr in Monday’s 67-53 Marion win over the Bearcats.
“We defended pretty well, and we try to be perfect on defense,” he added. “But that’s an impossible thing to do. We’re very critical sometimes and I’m sure the kids are saying, ‘Man, you come out here and try to guard the Sensabaughs because they’re quick as snot.’ But they take coaching and correction with mistakes as a challenge to get better. You can’t be perfect, but you try to eliminate as many defensive mistakes as you can.”
Conversely, Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh blamed his own defense for his team’s miserable Monday…just their second loss in twenty outings.
“We didn’t defend, and they did,” he said. “We have to do better.”
The two (Goettemoeller and Sensabaugh) sounded so similar that those words are surely underlined in the coaching manual
Chances are good that they (Spencerville) will; and chances are they’ll shoot better from the perimeter than they did Monday, just 28%.
But between now and that district final – if it comes – Goettemoeller Flyers’ are suddenly rekindling the excitement of 2018 with Tyler Mescher and Nathan Bruns, and their overtime win over highly-favored Cornerstone Christian for the Division IV title.
“Oh my God, yes,” said Jim Keller, failing to hide his enthusiasm. “Tonight was unexpected.”
Jim, the best things in February and March usually are.
So enjoy. One game at a time.
Like fightin’ with a Bearcat…Marion’s Daniel Everman scraps for a loose ball in Monday’s win over Spencerville.
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