The Flyers played hard…Kale Ahrens streaking to the rim for 2 of his 14 points during a 24-point Marion run in the third quarter. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
With an almost perfect exhibition of high school basketball, the #1-ranked Marion Local Flyers beat Fort Recovery in the Division VI regional semi-final to set up the anticipated showdown with #2-ranked Tri-Village.
Vandalia, OH – Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller admitted, post-game, that his team had probably come as close as possible to playing its best basketball in the state regional tournament semi-final game – just when you want it the most.
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With a 69-45 takedown for MAC rival Fort Recovery, the 24-1 Flyers proved to be not only too much for the 15-11 Indians, but the perfect blend of their signature defense, patient offense, three-point shooting, points in transition, points off offensive rebounds…seriously, everything you could ask for when it matters the most.
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And passion, too. What could be better than a shouting match between the coaches, Goettemoeller and Recovery’s Bob Leverette, three minutes prior to the end of the game? There was some of that, too.
“I think we’ve learned now how to put a game away when we get up in the second half,” Goettemoeller summed up his team’s performance outside the locker room, afterwards. “Honestly, it’s a matter of playing strong with the basketball, playing on two feet, and probing the defense for layups or easy baskets. I thought we did that tonight. Tonight was just our night.”
Ah, but Kurt was being humble. The Flyers were so much more than that.
Degree of difficulty…Marion Local’s Brayden Mescher twists his way to the rim for 2 of his game-high 19 points in the Flyers win over Fort Recovery.
Starting with being patient against the zone defense that Goettemoeller had predicted the Flyers would see last week for the remainder of the tournament. Against Fort Recovery’s 2-3 look, point guard Brayden Mescher played it like Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, reversing the basketball until they got the crack, or seam that they wanted for a cutter off the baseline or a drive by Mescher through the heart of the paint. And for matters of comfort, Grant Kremer, Marion’s best, and sometimes streaky three-point shooter, canned his second attempt in the first quarter to push the Flyers to an 11-4 lead by quarter’s end.
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At the same time, Leverette’s Indians couldn’t shoot a rat with an aerosol can of D-Con, going 2 for 8 – 2 baskets in 8 minutes.
But just when you thought that Fort Recovery was in for more come the second quarter, the Indians went on a 9-2 run to cut the Marion lead to 15-13, and game on. Grant Kremer took it as a challenge.
The Flyers’ Grant Kremer ignited for four three-pointers and 14 points in the win over Fort Recovery.
Kremer ignited for 8 points and back-to-back corner three-point shots, and Kale Ahrens orchestrated a pretty, twisting drive to the rim for a horn-beating bucket before halftime to push the Flyers’ margin back to 9 points, at 27-18. They played so well that lost in the sum of things was the individual play of Brayden Mescher, who scored just six points, but added four assists, a steal, a pair of rebounds and with the absence of a turnover. As it turned out, his best was yet to come.
Recovery came out in the third quarter with a renewed commitment to play hard, physical basketball on defense. Again, Mescher and Kremer took it as a challenge. Mescher immediately scored a pair of buckets with a high degree of difficulty by navigating through the Recovery defense…and Kremer would can another three-pointer from in front of an appreciative Marion crowd sitting courtside. Isaac Moeller, off the bench, would connect for another three-pointer, and Mescher, playing his best eight minutes of the season, topped off a personal 10-point quarter by draining a three-pointer from the top of the key to top off a 24-11 run to increase the lead to 51-29. And suddenly there was that sense of sharks with blood in the water.
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Defensively, Marion was playing with the same kind of abandon, making it really hard for Recovery to get to the rim, while holding them to just four three-pointers for the game. Marion’s depth off the bench became a factor as the pace of the second half and the psychological strain of playing that hard only to lose ground was wearing them down.
Recovery’s Colson Post drives past Marion Local Luke Everman for a pair of points in the first half of Tuesday’s Division VI regional semi-final.
Still, Recovery came out in the fourth quarter, abandoned the zone defense, and ran with Marion up and down the court, getting off as many shots as possible. Remarkably, they had their best scoring quarter of the game with 16 points, threw in a couple of threes, and did their best as a young basketball team to finish with a flourish and the promise of good things to come in 2027. Marion had begun subbing at the mid-point of the quarter with a 24-point lead, and Leverette followed suit, taking his starters out to an appreciative applause from the Fort Recovery students and fans.
Then, at the 3:00 mark, Brayden Mescher was spotted standing at the scorer’s bench to report back in the game, and Leverette took that personally, initiating what became a good thirty second airing of grievances between the two coaches – the afore-mentioned outburst of competitive passion. And passion to the point of the officials serving a warning to both to cease and desist.
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“I thought Kurt should have taken his starters out sooner with the game in hand, that’s all,” said Leverette later, laughing about it. “I probably didn’t handle it the best way.”
When Goettemoeller was questioned later he shrugged and had little to say.
Totally Flyers…on offense, and defense (above), Marion left little doubt that they were prepared for Saturday’s anticipated matchup with Tri-Village.
“I really don’t have anything to say because Bob’s a friend, he’s a good coach, and he and his team have had a great season to win a district title. I’m really not sure what went on.”
The proof of Marion’s semi-final majesty can be found in the scorebook.
Brayden Mescher led all scorers with 19 points, and unofficially finished with five assists, five rebounds, a steal, and one turnover. Following his lead, Grant Kremer shot 4 for 8 from three-point and had 14 points, Kale Ahren shot 6 of 16 from the field to finish with 14, and Marcus Schwieterman came off the bench to hit back-to-back three late in the fourth quarter and 6 points. Luke Everman had 4 points, Drew Cramer had one of Marion’s nine three-pointers (3 pts), and Cam Griesdorn had 2 points – 8 different players scored and three with 14 or more.
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Brody Barga played hard and tough to lead Fort Recovery with 11 points, Colson Post had 8, Breaker Jutte had 7, Hudson Overman finished with 9, Braylon Dilworth and Braylon Rammel each had 3, and Doug Bihn and Dylan Klenke each had 2.
And so it sets up the anticipated regional final on Saturday with unbeaten Tri-Village, #1 versus #2, following Tri-Village’s thirty-point romp over Troy Christian in the evening’s first game, 62-31.
“They confirmed tonight just how good they are,” said Goettemoeller of the unbeaten Patriots. “It’s going to be a really big game. It’s cool because both team will have three days to prepare. And it’s the top two teams in the state and it’s going to be a really fun battle.”
Bob Leverette summed things up on a high note, as well, despite losing in the regional round of the tournament.
“We’ve accomplished some goals in these last couple of years that we wanted to,” he began. “We on the right track, we’ve corrected some character issues that I thought needed improving – back to how we used to do things – I think we have the kids believing in that and they work hard. And I’ll summarize tonight this way. We were really locked in on defense in the first half, and then we’d have someone take a break and they’d capitalize on it. We got it to three, they hit a shot before halftime…and it just took us a while to realize that we can drive past these guys.
“But we got where we wanted to get…not the outcome, obviously…but we got beat by a pretty damn good team, right?”
On a night where Tri-Village showed everyone what the fuss was about; and on the same night that Marion played with the undeniable confidence of the state’s #1-ranked team, it was everything you needed to see.
And hear, as well, counting the dust-up between the coaches.
But seriously……
God forbid there be some competitive passion in a high school basketball game…in the year of 68-2, 73-3 and 87-14!
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