Welcoming sight…Marion Local’s Luke Everman warmed to the task by hitting four of eight from three-point range Friday in the Flyers’ 67-44 win over Minster. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After a slow start they got the three-point shot going…and then everything else that’s Marion Local just fell into place. The Flyers snapped Minster’s seven-game win streak Friday for their 17th win.
Maria Stein, OH – At this point…even those who haven’t paid heed previously are beginning to get the idea. The Marion Local Flyers are an exceptional Division VI basketball team and more than warrant their #1 ranking, state-wide.
Minster Dental is proud to sponsor the best in area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
And it’s no recent thing. They’ve been good before – champions before – which only allows for those who have been paying attention to make the inevitable comparisons. Not as big as teams in the past, and maybe not as quick as some, but following their 67-44 complete win Friday over #3-ranked Minster (Division VII) someone dusted off an original thought about this team that might yet set it alongside Marion Local teams of the past.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Resourceful…meaning, they eventually find a way to overcome an obstacle. And Friday, they relaxed, rather than recoiled, after an 0-for-6 shooting start and just played Marion basketball.
And haven’t good tournament-bound teams always done that?
Indeed, they came out firing against the 13-6 Wildcats Friday – clank, clank, clank – but at the same time they made Minster clank, too. Defense always travels, they say. Or sometimes it just plays at home.
The ‘Edge’ proudly sponsors the Midwest Athletic Conference on Press Pros Magazine.com.
But four minutes into the game Luke Everman finally hit a three-pointer from the high wing, and moments later he hit a second.
Marion’s Grant Kremer beats Minster’s Andrew Wiss to the baseline during the second quarter of Friday’s win over the Wildcats.
A couple of possessions later Grant Kremer hit his own three-pointer from the wing, and moments later he hit a second from the corner. It set off an 14-8 Marion run that saw Minster do its best to keep pace – a three-pointer by Beck Stephey and a pair of buckets from Cole McClurg – but Marion had the bit in its teeth and by the end of the first quarter the Flyers led, 18-13.
By the end of the second quarter Brennen Hess had joined the three-point parade with a pair of his own, and junior forward Kale Ahrens had warmed to the task with a pair of baskets. More poignantly, Marion’s defense had gotten excited, holding Minster to just three made shots for the quarter and the Flyers led at halftime, 30-19.
Minster is a good basketball team, with one of the area’s more indefatigable post men in Cole Albers and a pair of guards in Cole McClurg and Beck Stephey that can both score and distribute.
Huffer Chiropractic can help your athlete perform at their best – with offices in Osgood, Jackson Center, Marysville, and Dublin, Ohio.
But Marion is not only an good team, it’s a comfortable team…and when it came out of the second half they found that extra gear that only the best teams have. They outscored Minster in the third quarter, 21-8, as Hess hit his third three of the game, Kale Ahrens scored, Brayden Mescher scored, Olivef Huelsman scored, Isaac Moeller came off the bench to hit a three, and the defense got the transition game going. By the end of the quarter the margin had risen to 51-27 and the student section was calling for the obscure names at the end of the bench to enter the game.
“They’re an excellent team,” Mike McClurg would declare outside his locker room, post-game. “They create all kinds of problems and we struggled to shoot the ball. I think we were 1 for 16 from three-point and they were something like 10 for 24. When you get that kind of differential in shooting you’re not going to win.”
However, one can make the case for Minster being a good basketball team for the fact that while down 24 points to start the fourth…they never quit. Cole Albers and Andrew Ketner scored quickly to start the final quarter, accounted for eight points by the 4:00 mark, and at least gave the Wildcats life, if not a chance to win.
Albers showed why he is a prospect to play at the next level, and a handful to stop when he gets the ball in the low post at this level. After scoring eight points in the first half, he exploded for 11 in the second despite Marion Local making it as tough as possible – doubling down to deny him the ball, and collapsing three men around if and when he did touch it. He would finish with a game-high 19 points and failed to crack 20 only because he missed a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.
Marion Local’s defense triples down on Minster big man Cole Albers, who led all scorers with 19 points.
Marion, however, was playing the fourth like a team that can’t wait until the tournament draw, looking for a different challenge, and confident in their ability play through that challenge. Grant Kremer hit his third and fourth three-pointer of the game, Anthony Evers canned one of the bench, and Kale Ahrens put the finishing touches on his latest double-digit game, a team-high 16 points. Once again the final…67-44!
Marion had eight different players score, led by Ahrens’ 16, Luke Everman’s 14, and Kremer’s 12…while Brennen Hess had 7, Mescher finished with 6, Oliver Huelsman pitched in 4, Moeller’s 5, and Evers’ 3. Concerned just a month ago following the Delphos loss over the inability to shoot threes, Friday Marion hit of 11 of 23 (47%).
Cole Albers topped Minster with 19, McClurg, Ketner, and Taylor Fancher had 6 each, Dom Meyer had 4, and Beck Stephey finished with 3.
Dorsten Contracting proudly supports the MAC and Shelby County League sports on Press Pros.
“They were a challenge early because of how Minster plays its zone,” Kurt Goettemoeller later explained the slow start. “They gave us some different looks before they eventually they went into their standard 2-3 zone. But instead of trying to scheme things against the zone so much, we’re doing more of a motion-based offense and allowing players to make plays.
“Luke Everman was a big key for us tonight. Luke’s a good shooter that struggled early in the year, but now he’s finding his stroke. And if he can make shots for us we’re going to be pretty difficult to beat.”
Minster’s Cole McClurg looks to score around Marion’s Kale Ahrens during Friday’s MAC game at Marion Local.
His explanation spelled doom for Minster on this night, but it doesn’t dispel the fact that the ‘Cats came into the game with seven-game win streak, and had begun to get comfortable with their own assets. Few Division VI and VII teams in the area have a 6’8″ man down low with the touch of Cole Albers around the rim. And on nights when McClurg and Stephey find their own touch from the perimeter Minster, like Marion, can be difficult to beat.
“Cole has become so much more patient,” said Mike McClurg Friday, sounding like his big man’s press secretary. “When we can get the ball to him, and we’re working on different looks to mix things up, he’s become more patient and confident during the second half of the season. He’s handling double-teams, contact, a lot of fouling, he playing through all that and he’s finishing a lot better.”
So the tournament draw comes in a matter of 48 hours, and the concluding question for Kurt Goettemoeller on Friday, concerning his #1-ranked Flyers…does this team, at 17-1, look like a good tournament team…or worthy of comparison with the best of Marion teams past?
“Yeah, I think so,” answered Goettemoeller. “We’re peaking at the right time and it’s still not at the end of the year. We’ve got a tough game with Russia this weekend and games next week at Wapakoneta and Versailles, and it’s good to be playing some good teams at the end of the year. And it’s good to get a game on the Wapak floor because we’re probably going to have a tough game there in the district semi-final.
“But we want to be peaking right now, and I think we are.”
And if that doesn’t satisfy a reader’s curiosity, simply put…Marion looks like a team that’s both athletic and relaxed. And to his point about allowing kids to make plays on their own…you can’t do it any other way.
“And you can’t rest on your laurels,” Kurt’s quick to remind. “You have to keep getting better every night.”
If they hadn’t done so previously…Friday they made a believer out of Minster.
Since 2013, Moeller Trucking sponsors MAC sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.