Austin Niekamp scored 14 points in the first half, with a pair of threes, and finished with a game-high 17 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Austin Niekamp’s 14-point first half gave Marion Local a narrow lead it never relinquished. The Flyers pulled away late to beat Anna 58-43 in the regional finals.
Fairborn, OH – The Marion Local Flyers are going back to state, and we’re not talkin’ football.
Alan Brads writes OHSSA sports and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Flyer basketball is back. For the first time since their 2018 state title, the Marion Local hoisted a regional championship trophy.
“The regional finals is always one of the most pressure-packed games to win,” Marion coach Kurt Goettemoeller said.
The pressure didn’t relent as Anna forced the Flyers to repeatedly snuff out the fire of revival. Of late, no lead has been safe against the Rockets, who entered on a 10-game win streak. But a 14-point first half from Austin Niekamp and efficient free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter finally gave Marion a lead that not even the comeback kids from Anna could overcome.
And the Flyers took home the Division VI regional trophy with a 58-43 victory.
“We’re never out of games like that,” Anna Coach Nate Barhorst said. “But it’s a different animal when you’re going against those guys. You gotta be errorless.”
Ryan Homan sank 8 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to help ice it after leading by 5 to 9 points for the vast majority of the game. Those freebies plus the same lockdown defense they’ve relied on pushed them over the hump they couldn’t quite scale in the first three quarters. That put the game out of reach before Anna could pull any more late heroics.
Brayden Mescher finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds in the Flyers’ win over Anna.
_“To break through is great, but to do it with this group is a thrill,” Goettemoeller said. “These kids love each other, they want to practice tomorrow on a Sunday. They just want to be together, and they love playin’ ball.”
When you love playin’, winnin’ tends to come easy. This is win number 25 of the season, with the chance for the two biggest wins still ahead. The other three survivors in Division VI are Colonel Crawford, Kirtland, and Woodsfield Monroe Central. The semifinal matchups will be announced Monday.
Whoever the Flyers play, they’ll look to the big man, 6-8 Austin Niekamp, early and often. That’s what they did to establish the lead they maintained for the first 26 minutes of the game.
Niekamp scored 14 points in the first half, eight from the low post, plus a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Anna lacks a player with the measurables to match up with Niekamp, and relied on Alex Shappie and Brady Wenning to guard him. After he imposed his will for a half, Anna coach Nate Barhorst made the call to double Niekamp every time he touched the basketball.
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It worked … and at the same time it didn’t.
“They didn’t let me get any looks from three and started doubling me,” Niekamp said. “But a lotta people got good looks and layups out of it.”
Niekamp didn’t make a field goal in the second half, scoring just three free throws for a game-leading 17 points. But his gravity sucked in extra defenders, freeing teammates like Kale Ahrens and Brayden Mescher to catch a pass from the keen-eyed Niekamp, and score.
Ryan Homan sank 8 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to help ice the game.
Mescher finished with 13 points, and Ahrens had eight. Homan scored 12 on a layup and 10 free throws.
The Flyers’ unity and teamwork make them a tough nut to crack on both sides of the ball.
Anna didn’t have the physical advantage anywhere to go one-on-one on offense, so the Rockets tried to work the ball around Marion’s defense. But without a chink in the armor in terms of defenders, it took eight, ten, twelve passes to get a look at the basket worth taking on most possessions.
Anna’s pair of quick guards, Jacob Feroze and Evan Myers, both excel at slashing to the rim on the dribble drive. Their convincing jab steps and ball fakes could get them past one defender, but only to be welcomed into the waiting arms of the help defense, spearheaded by Niekamp.
Nearly every bucket required a well-placed assist, save for a third-quarter run when Myers put the team on his back to stay alive.
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Myers led Anna with 13 points, Feroze scored 12, and Rhylan Platfoot and Brady Wenning each had seven.
Once a 6-10 team floundering for an identity, the Rockets have nothing to hang their heads about.
“Nobody would’ve given us a chance,” Barhorst said. “Things could’ve really been bleak for us. We could’ve been out in the first round of the tournament. We had a magical run, an unexpected run, and I couldn’t be more proud of the effort.”
Kale Ahrens leaves no room for Anna’s Evan Myers to shoot.
Painful memories always stick easiest, but here’s what Anna’s five seniors should remember from their final campaign: A ten-game win streak including three overtime wins, a district title, and a last-second upset win in the regional semis.
There’s no great shame in losing to a 25-2 team that only Russia and Delphos St. John’s beat.
It’ll still sting for a while because they had so much hope. It appeared for most the afternoon that Anna would keep it close enough to at least get an opportunity to work some eleventh-hour magic, like it did trailing by 10 with 1:06 left against Jackson Center.
Despite Niekamp’s 12 points in the first 10 minutes and 20 seconds, Anna clung tightly, using careful ball movement and sharp cuts to score layups around Marion’s height.
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Anna scored a consecutive pair of second-chance baskets, a rare find against Marion, to cut the lead to 20-18 in the mid-second quarter. But like every other time Anna threatened the lead, Marion found a response. That time it was Niekamp for two. Another time it was Grant Kremer for three. Five times it was a pair from the charity stripe by Homan.
Marion led 29-22 at the half and came out hot in the third, pushing the lead to double digits. But this time, Anna had an answer, and that answer had a name: Evan Myers.
Marion Local Seniors…Ryan Homan, Austin Niekamp, and Daniel Everman
Myers scored Anna’s last eight points of the quarter on a jumper, two contested finishes in the lane, and a pair of free throws. Myers chopped the lead as low as four and kept his team afloat with a score of 41-34 going to the fourth.
The Flyers had their free throw struggles throughout the season, but they made ‘em count when they needed it most, finishing on a stretch of 11 of 12 from the line to oust Anna in the fourth. Late fouls stretched the lead and Marion walked away with a regional championship.
“You win games by doing the fundamentals,” Mescher said. “We practice free throws every day, and we practice going against pressure every day. And that’s what it came down to at the end.”
Celebration lasts for a night, then, if the boys get their way, practice starts tomorrow on a Sunday, and the focus becomes winning a state championship.
“I was a manager in 2018,” Mescher said. “I just wanna do what they did.”
2025 Division VI Regional Champions – Marion Local Flyers
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