He gave Marion everything he had…Grant Kremer rises to hit one of his five 3-pointers that were almost enough for the Flyers. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Marion Local was on the verge of a state championship in regulation, but their bid to win the game they lost last year slipped away in a physical game marked by big plays on both sides.
Dayton, OH – Marion Local basketball players stood silently, pensively, on the UD Arena court, accepting their medals and their trophy. Many of them cried. They had reason to.
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They thought about why they should have been awarded the Division VI state championship trophy and cut down a net. They thought about all they had accomplished together to play in a second straight Division VI final just to lose again.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com. Follow on X @jw_gilbert
They thought what every Marion Local fan thought after the Flyers lost 54-51 to Berlin Hiland in double overtime, coming close through more ups and downs than a park full of roller coasters.
“Losing sucks,” Flyers senior leader Brayden Mescher said.
But he heard some perspective in the locker room that will help him move on and be grateful for his time wearing the blue and gold.
“I heard coach say to Kale [Ahrens], ‘I’d rather lose with this group of guys than win with someone else,’” Mescher said. “That’s about as true as you can get. These are the best guys I’ve ever been around.”
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Those are the thoughts Mescher and his teammates want to carry into tomorrow, next week, for the rest of their lives. They don’t want to remember their 10-of-25 free-throw futility. Mescher doesn’t want to remember his 2-of-10 free-throw shooting.
“It’s the game of life,” Mescher said, then added what head coach Kurt Goettemoeller told him after the game. “He told me there’s bigger things in life than basketball. We’re all competitive, we don’t want to lose, but there’s way bigger things to worry about in life.”
Why officials wear stripes…Hiland’s Caleb Mishler grabs Marion’s Kale Ahrens’ wrist on this shot attempt, and there was no call.
The Hawks made 12 of 17. And in ultra-physical games, when fouls start getting called late, free throws can be the difference, and, sadly for the Flyers, they were.
The 4-of-6 Marion missed late in regulation that could have sealed victory? More sickening than any roller coaster ride. The Flyers led 39-37 in the final minute, that time when free throws can win a game.
Mescher was fouled with 40 seconds left and missed both free throws. But Brennen Hess was shoved to the floor on the rebound. He made the first and missed the second. But Luke Everman got the rebound.
With 30 seconds left, the Hawks fouled Grant Kremer. He missed the first and made the second for a 41-37 lead. In what turned out to be a possession with six free throws, the Flyers made two.
Hiland got a quick layup from best player Alex Miller with 22 seconds left. Then the other Marion stat that will haunt them – 17 turnovers – got them again when Miller stole the ball before Marion could advance through the Hawks’ press.
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Ashton Schrock drove to the basket and was fouled with 16 seconds left. He made both free throws to tie the score at 41. Ahrens had a final shot near the right block, but Hiland’s 6-foot-7 Ryan Zerger blocked it to force overtime.
Hiland’s Ryan Zerger hooked the arm of Kale Ahrens on this drive to the hoop, and you guessed it….crickets!
In overtime the roles reversed. The Flyers trailed 47-42 when Kremer made a contested 3-pointer from the left corner with 34 seconds left. Schrock made one of two free throws a couple seconds later. Then with 24 seconds left, Kremer took a handoff from Mescher, set his feet quickly and tied the score at 48 with his fifth 3-pointer to force a second overtime.
“I just kind of let it fly,” said Kremer, who scored a game-high 22 points. “Luckily, they went in, gave us a chance to go to the second OT. Felt pretty good after I hit them. But it is how it is.”
How it is, is how the second overtime transpired. The Flyers took a 51-50 lead with 1:21 left on Mescher’s reverse layup. But Hiland made four free throws in four tries to take a three-point lead.
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Kremer fouled out with 17 seconds left, leaving the Flyers without their hottest option. They called time with 4.4 seconds left. On the inbounds play, Luke Everman, another trusted 3-point shooter, got open in the left corner. But, against tight defense, his shot bounced off the rim. And that was it.
Hiland (25-3) had its fourth state title in seven appearances and first since 2012. Marion (26-1) finished runner-up for the third time and is 3-3 in state finals. Both played difficult schedules, and after seeing their semifinal games, this one was as close and as physical as expected.
Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller is surrounded by men in Sansabelts and striped shirts, asking for an explanation.
“Everybody in attendance got treated to just one hell of a high school state championship game between, I would say, two storied programs,” Marion’s Kurt Goettemoeller said.
Hiland’s Mark Schlabach has seen a lot of his school’s games in his life as a player and in 21 years as the head coach.
“That was the best Hiland basketball game ever – two teams deserve a state championship tonight,” he said. “I don’t remember half of what happened in that game, other than we had no business taking it into overtime, and they had probably no business taking it in double overtime.”
Goettemoeller said after his team’s semifinal win that the final against Hiland would be like a football game. He was right. To say the three officials entrusted with a state final let them play, would be a gross understatement.
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The players were gladiators without shields or helmets. Hand checking, arm bars with oomph, pushing on rebounds and fouling shooters were all fair game. The NFHS rule about putting two hands on the dribbler being an automatic foul no matter where on the court, no matter the situation, did not apply. No blood, no foul.
The officials whistled Hiland for 19 fouls, Marion for 16. The fans, on both sides, never want to see those guys again. They would rather see skill permitted to shine. Still, Marion got enough calls to salt the game away at the foul line.
Marion Local’s Brennen Hess rises to score over Hiland’s CJ Yoder in the first half of Saturday’s Division VI championship game.
“The refs let them play, and that’s just like we like it,” Goettemoeller said. “We want it to be a physical game because we’re a physical team, and it’s how Berlin Hiland likes it. I told you last night this game was going to be a fist fight, and that’s exactly what it was.
“I’m cool with how the refs called the game because that’s how we both wanted it. It may not look like basketball, may not be pretty to the teams in the stands, but we build our tradition in basketball here on tough, physical defense. Maybe there’s some calls that went their way, there’s probably some calls that went our way. It’s nobody’s fault. I’m glad the refs called it physical.”
Veteran Hiland coach Mark Schlabach didn’t disagree.
“It’s kind of how I thought the game would go,” he said. “You watch Marion Local and their kids are so strong and physical, they don’t back down from anybody, and our kids tend to play the same way. That was a very difficult game to officiate. I thought they did a great job.”
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The key to Marion’s offense is the playmaking and physical driving to the basket of the 6-foot-2 Mescher. His game is score, dump off to a teammate for an easy two or pass out to Kremer or Everman for a three.
But Hiland made the call to put the 5-8 Schrock on him. With arm bars and quick feet, Schrock was under Mescher’s chin all night and kept him from getting to his spots and from initiating offense for others.
Isaac Moeller banked in this 3-pointer from the top of the circle to give Marion Local hope of a win in regulation.
“That’s the best defender I’ve seen all season,” said Mescher who was held to three field-goal attempts and six points. “He didn’t let me do anything I wanted to do all night, so props to him. And the few times I got around him, the big kid’s in the middle and can’t shoot around him. They were helping all night. Props to their whole defense.”
Hiland’s Zenger was named the game’s MVP with his 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. But Schlabach had a different idea.
“I don’t know who votes for MVP, and this is no offense to Ryan, because Ryan had a great game, but I don’t know how you can watch that game and not give Ashton Schrock the MVP,” Schlabach said. “Mescher’s a great player, probably a first team all-Ohio player. He had six points in 39 and a half minutes. He had nine turnovers. That’s Ashton Schrock.”
The Flyers shot the ball quite well when they were guarded – 50% overall and 7 of 19 from 3-point range. Kremer was 8 of 14 and 5 of 11 on threes, and backup Isaac Moeller made both his 3-point attempts in the second half at key times – when every basket felt key – and three of four free throws.
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But after nine lead changes, five ties, a biggest lead of five for each team and a run of no more than six points, Hiland had survived the physical toll to be champion. And it hurt more than any bruise for the Flyers to watch them receive their hardware.
While the joyous Hawks had their medals hung around their necks and held their trophy high, Goettemoeller hugged Mescher for a long time and talked to him.
“Short story, he told me he loved me,” Mescher said. “We all love each other on this team. Everyone’s crying in the locker room and then we’re laughing. Yeah, it sucks. But we literally maximized – we played two extra quarters tonight – as much time together as we could.”
For Goettemoeller, the chance to win the title that got away last year was a bonus after losing so many seniors off last year’s team. He thought a decent season and maybe a good tournament run would be the result.
“What these guys accomplished is crazy – I never thought we could have a season like this,” he said. “We maximized our time together two years in a row. How lucky are we?”
Pretty lucky the way Goettemoeller sees it. And instead of celebrating – which he wanted to do – his team hugged each other in the locker room and shared their hearts.
“The negative is that we lost, but the positive is, if we had won the game, we would be jumping up and celebrating, but we wouldn’t really tell each other how we really feel about each other,” he said. “We had that opportunity in the locker room. So that’s a silver lining. I got to let those guys know how much I love them, and they did the same.
“To lose it sucks, but for us to have that opportunity and to be a playing on the last day is pretty special.”
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