ST. MARYS – With Marion Local’s successful state title run in football this fall, the Flyers had a late start to their basketball season.
This definitely is not new for Marion Local boys head basketball coach Kurt Goettemoeller.
In Thursday night’s nonconference boys basketball matchup with St. Marys, Marion Local battled back from an early deficit, en route to a hard-fought 48-41 win over St. Marys on the road.
“This is my 11th season; and in 10 seasons we made the state championship game in football,” Goettemoeller said. “So, we certainly know the recipe that it takes to get our guys off the ground. I give our kids a ton of credit.
“When you win the state championship in football, you’re at the top of the mountain. Then (basketball season comes) you are at the bottom of the mountain again; and you have to climb that mountain again. Our kids came in ready to work; and we did a great job of getting prepared. You get about six days of practice, then you’re playing a game.”
Tate Hess led Marion Local (3-0) with 15 points, including 9 of 12 shooting from the free throw line. Hess also made three steals at the defensive end. Jadyn Mescher had 12 points, including two 3-pointers. Sophomore Jack Knapke, a 6-foot-8 post player had six points and eight rebounds for the Flyers.
Austin Parks led St. Marys (5-2) and all scorers with 25 points. Parks, a 6-10 junior, also had nine rebounds and two blocks.
St. Marys opened the contest with an 8-0 run. Marion Local did not register its first points of the game until the 2:58 mark of the opening quarter, on a 10-footer by Hess, making it 8-2 Roughriders.
However, the Flyers’ pesky defensive pressure slowed the Roughriders down.
Marion Local helped cause six first-quarter turnovers for St. Marys. For the game, the Roughriders turned it over 14 times.
St. Marys managed to slip out with a 10-6 lead by the first stop.
Both teams continued to struggle at the offensive end.
The scored was knotted at 19 each at the halftime break.
“We were down 8-0 early in the game, and our guys didn’t blink,” Goettemoeller said. “We just kept playing. Then we got some things to finally go our way.”
For the half, Marion Local was 7 of 24 shooting from the field for 29 percent. St. Marys connected on 6 of 15 of its field goal attempts in the first 16 minutes of action for 40-percent shooting.
Parks led St. Marys in the first half with 10 points and four rebounds. Hess and Mescher each had seven first-half points for the Flyers. Hess made three steals at the defensive end.
Marion Local claimed its first lead of the contest, 21-19, just seconds into the second half, on an inside move by Knapke.
Marion Local led 31-29 at the end of the third quarter.
Parks scored 10 third-quarter points.
In the final eight minutes, the Flyers held St. Marys to just 2 of 12 shooting from the field.
For the game, Marion Local shot 38 percent from the field. St. Marys connected on 33 percent of its field goal attempts.
“The thing in the first half was, we weren’t making any shots,” Goettemoeller said. “We were getting some good looks. We tell our kids that our defense will carry us, when our offense isn’t playing well.”
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