Marion Local’s Brayden Mescher spots an open shooter on the baseline during the first quarter of Friday’s 52-23 win over Ada in the district finals. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Marion Local used its three ‘Ms’ – maturity, mojo, and Mescher – to take the next step and overwhelm Ada Friday, 52-23, in the Division VI district final at Wapakoneta High School.
Wapakoneta, OH – You know the old adage about pictures…how photos don’t lie. Or, that a picture is worth a thousand words?
Well, on the cutting room floor at Press Pros Friday night the photos told the story of how the state’s #1-ranked team in Division VI – the 23-1 Marion Local Flyers – wiped out Ada High School’s chances for an expanded dream season by beating the Bulldogs in the Division VI district final at Wapakoneta, 52-23.
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What the photos, one after another, showed….
Brayden Mescher handling the basketball and tournament pressure.
Brayden Mescher finding the open man against Ada’s 2-3 zone.
Brayden Mescher attacking the rim with his 6’3″ height and 215 pounds of mass, leading the Flyers with 13 points.
Brayden Mescher on the offensive boards, fighting for rebounds and stickback points – what former Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall used to call, “grownup points”.
What the photos showed, in fact, was the totality of his presence on the basketball court, and his omnipresent impact Friday in the Flyers’ district title win over the outmanned Bulldogs, trying their best to hold serve by playing a zone defense.
“We thought if we could play some zone enough to slow them down – slow Mescher down – and keep it within striking range we could have a chance in the fourth quarter,” said Ada coach Chris Sautter. “But it didn’t work out. They were too good on the offensive boards. They were just too much.”
Grownup points…Marion’s Kale Ahrens scored off this offensive rebound in the first half of Friday’s district final win over Ada.
By game’s end Ada’s senior guard, and athlete (6’0″ and 180 lbs.), Kayleb Hickman looked like he had just run a marathon, worn down by the effort of defending the 6’3″ Mescher, or trying to generate something offensively, anything, against Marion Local’s size advantage, defensively.
And to Sautter’s game plan, Ada did show some success early when the zone held Marion to 0 for 6 on their first half dozen three-point attempts. Not until Isaac Moeller finally dropped one at the 4:25 point of the quarter did the Flyers connect from the perimeter.
But in the meantime, those same Flyers were tidying up their misses enough on the offensive boards to own a modest, but confident, lead after eight minutes, 11-5.
“We didn’t shoot it well early, but I was happy with how we hit the offensive boards,” said Flyers coach Kurt Goettemoeller. “We are comfortable with playing against the zone because we’ve seen it a lot. And there’s different zones – pack it in, or attack the perimeter – and hopefully that helps us going forward. Because I’m pretty sure we’re going to see zone defense in the regionals.”
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“In the second quarter we began to catch fire,,” he added. “Some of our better shooters began making shots, and that always helps. But again, our ability to rebound the basketball and stay with it like we did really helped.”
Goettemoeller’s assessment was a direct hit. The Flyers showed their mojo in the second quarter, that maturity of knowing their advantage and having the patience to let the game, and the advantage, come to them. Grant Moeller hit a three. Isaac Moeller hit a second three. And Mescher slashed to the rim for a pair of buckets and a free throw.
Brayden Mescher’s size and athleticism was more than the Ada backcourt would match.
Defensively, they again held Ada to less than double figures on offense, guard Zack Zimmerman finding himself in the right spot at the right times to score three of Ada four buckets for the quarter. Marion led, comfortably, at the half, 26-13.
Many a basketball game has been won after trailing by ten at halftime, and Chris Sautter had that in mind, himself, if the Bulldogs could just keep the pace down, hit some shots, and get to the fourth quarter trailing by no more than five points.
But Marion Local blew up that plan in the early moments of the third quarter. Grant Kremer heated up with his second three of the game. Luke Everman added his first. Kale Ahrens got to the rim on back-to-back buckets, and of course Mescher added a pair…all through patience against the zone and Mescher’s ability to penetrate, make the right pass, to the right man, and at the right time.
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On the other end, Ada found things drier than a popcorn cough, scoring just three points for the quarter – a bucket by Zimmerman – and quickly found themselves thinking about track and field as Marion expanded their lead to 40-16…24 points.
“Brayden is our dude,” said Goettemoeller when pressed to detail his impact as a senior leader on the state’s #1-ranked team.
After six early misses Isaac Moeller hit the first of Marion’s five three-pointers for the game.
“That’s no secret. He’s a big, strong kid at 6’3″. He makes a ton of plays for us and he’s a really good communicator on defense. And we obviously have to have him on the floor. But we had other guys step up tonight, as well. And that’s great to see because we have three guys back from last year’s tournament team, but these other guys are just getting their feet wet with tournament experience. And I thought the whole team played well, even some of our kids off the bench.”
And to that point, while Mescher led the Flyers and all scorers with 13 points, the distribution of the rest of the scoring was a telling testament to complementary contributions. Kale Ahrens silently accumulated 10 points. Kremer, Moeller, and Brennen Hess all finished with 6 points. Off the bench, Oliver Huelsman scored 2, and Marcus Schwieterman scored 4.
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For Ada, Zack Zimmerman matched Mescher’s game total of 13 points, while Kayleb Hickman had 5, Carson Conley had 3, and Andrew Allen had 2.
Marion finished shooting a modest 44% from the floor, dominated the numbers in rebounding, and Mescher ended the game with 6 assists.
Ada finished by shooting and even more modest 31% from the floor, including 2 of 7 from the foul line.
What’s next? Well, it’s interesting because Marion would be on a crash course with unbeaten Tri-Village in the Division VI regional at Butler High School if the Patriots get by Cincinnati Oyler (14-10) Saturday in Middletown.
Minster (17-7) plays for a district title tomorrow night against Kalida in Van Wert.
Fort Recovery (14-10) is going to be there next week, claiming their district title Friday night by defeating Emmanuel Christian, 63-44. The Indians will meet conference rival Marion Local in the regional semi-final round.
And Troy Christian (20-5) surprised some people, stepping out of the Three Rivers Conference for a 60-45 district title win over former state champ Cincinnati Deer Park.
So, can any region in the state of Ohio claim to have a more interesting tournament representation…than two #1 ranked teams (Marion Local and Delphos St. John), an undefeated and #2-ranked Tri-Villlage, an unexpected (Fort Recovery), and a popular underdog (Troy Christian)?
Write, if you think of any.
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