Marion boys place fourth at Trojan Classic
Sports reporter
The Marion Warrior boys' varsity basketball team chalked up a first-round win against Sunrise Academy, leading to a fourth-place finish in last week's Hillsboro Trojan Classic, despite losses to Thomas More Prep and Republic County.
Balanced scoring from Justin Heidebrecht, Calvin Jeffrey, Jason Hett, and Travis Hett got the Warriors off to a 10-6 first quarter lead against Sunrise Academy.
The Buffaloes battled back in the second quarter as the teams traded the lead throughout much of the period. An Emmanuel Jackson field goal with 38 seconds remaining pulled the Warriors even at 22-22 going into halftime.
Marion started the third quarter with a 15-7 run to bolt to a 37-29 lead, but Sunrise Academy needed just over a minute to trim the Warrior advantage to a single point, 37-36.
A Travis Hett three-point bomb at the 2:09 mark pushed the Warrior lead back to seven, an edge they maintained as the quarter ended, 45-38.
Bret Michael led a furious Buffaloes rally at the start of the fourth quarter, as Sunrise Academy fought back to tie the Warriors, 52-52, with 3:24 remaining in the game.
From that point forward, Marion gradually pulled away. Free throws by Travis Hett and Jason Hett gave Marion a three-point edge, and Heidebrecht converted on an old-fashioned three-point play when he dropped in a free throw after being fouled on a successful shot.
Heidebrecht added two more free throws 20 seconds later, giving Marion an eight-point buffer, 60-52, going into the final 41 seconds. Jeffrey and Jackson added free throws in the waning seconds to seal the 63-55 win.
Travis Hett topped Warrior scorers with 17 points, followed by Jackson, 15, Jason Hett, 14, Heidebrecht, 9, and Jeffrey, 8.
Sunrise Academy's Michael led all scorers with 26.
The Warriors shot the ball extremely well, hitting 57 percent of their shots for the game, and a mind-boggling 75 percent in the second half.
TMP 77, Marion 55
The Warriors were rewarded for their first-round win with a matchup against the tournament's toughest draw, Thomas More Prep, the top-rated team in Class 4A.
After dropping behind early, the Warriors came back to tie the game 6-6 on three-pointers by Travis Hett and Heidebrecht, and Marion defenders held their own against the taller Monarchs, trailing by only five, 16-11, at the end of the first quarter.
The Monarchs used a 10-2 run in the first two minutes of the second quarter to extend their lead to 13, 26-13, but the Warriors held sway over the next six minutes. Travis Hett made a layup to cut the lead to single digits, 33-24, before Thomas More's Trevor Ottey scored a put back off an offensive rebound for a 35-24 halftime lead.
The Warriors hung tough throughout much of the third quarter, drawing back to within nine points on a Calvin Jeffrey trey at the 2:36 mark, 45-36.
But the Monarchs went on a 12-2 run to close out the quarter, sparked by eight points from Nolan Hoffman, and led 57-38 entering the final stanza.
Thomas More stretched the lead to 23 points in the first minute of the period. Marion continued to battle hard throughout the remainder of the game, preventing the Monarchs from increasing their lead, but was unable to make any headway.
The Monarchs' Ottey was the game's leading scorer with 24. Travis Hett popped in 17 for Marion, and Jeffrey pumped in 13.
Rep. Co. 67, Marion 56
The third-place contest Saturday between Marion and Republic County was a second-half thriller and an overtime chiller, as the Warriors failed to score in the extra period.
Warrior fans watched nervously in the second half as Republic County chipped away at a 34-27 Marion halftime lead.
Ten seconds into the final quarter, the Buffaloes comeback was complete, as Colby Ferris was fouled on a successful layup and cashed in on his charity toss, to knot the score, 43-43.
The Warriors suffered a blow when Jackson fouled out of the contest with 3:51 remaining, but trailed by only two, 56-54, when Marion head coach Rex Ostmeyer called a time-out to set up a final play.
Whatever plans Ostmeyer made were immediately thwarted by a scrambling Buffalo defense, as the Warriors struggled to work the ball on the perimeter.
But just before time expired in regulation, Heidebrecht found Jason Hett all alone under the basket, and Hett scored the chip shot that sent the game to overtime.
The Warriors lost their best offensive threat, Travis Hett, to fouls at the 2:20 mark of overtime. Marion never recovered, giving up an 11-0 run.
The Warriors got a breakout game from Luke Gordon, who along with Jason Hett scored 14 points to lead Marion, while Travis Hett scored 12.
Following a Tuesday night road trip to Hoisington for a makeup game, the Warriors will entertain arch rival Hillsboro Friday at Marion High School Gymnasium.
