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Much needed victory gives Warriors a boost

"Spark plug" Heidebrecht key to victory

Sports reporter

After what seemed like an entire year, the Marion High School boys' basketball team finally took the floor Tuesday on its home court.

Unfortunately for the Sterling Black Bears, the Warriors were more than ready.

Justin Heidebrecht scored 22 points, and Calvin Jeffrey added nine points, six rebounds, and six assists, as MHS (2-3, 1-0 MCAA) overcame a two-point first quarter to defeat the Black Bears, 67-46.

In actuality it had been 10 months since the team played a home game, and head coach Rex Ostmeyer thought the sloppy first quarter could have been the result.

"That first quarter was as ugly as ugly can be," he said. "We had a lot of shots, we just missed them."

In fact the Warriors missed their first 16 shots of the game, but went 19-29 (65.5 percent) the rest of the way.

"Once we got the lid off the bucket and got rid of the first-game jitters, we were fine," Ostmeyer said.

Heidebrecht, who came into the game averaging 11 points per contest, helped relieve the jitters by hitting his first two three-point attempts.

His biggest play of the game may have been avoiding his third foul in the second quarter.

Trailing 15-13, Heidebrecht chased a Black Bear defender down the court on a fast break. The senior avoided a foul and altered the shot. As MHS brought the ball back up the court, Heidebrecht swished a three, and the Warriors never trailed again.

"Justin is important for us," Ostmeyer said. "He's going to have to score . . . Tonight he was the spark plug."

Heidebrecht hadn't played as well as his 17-point performance on opening night at Chase County the past few games, but he found his stroke Tuesday, and is now shooting 46 percent from the field.

"I got those two fouls and sat down," he said, "then came out in the second quarter and said, 'I guess I better start shooting now.'"

After MHS poured in 28 points in the second quarter for a 30-21 halftime lead, the Black Bears never amounted anything close to a comeback.

Jeffrey kept the defenders on their heels with several no-look passes that led the layups.

Despite shooting just 3-14, he found other ways to play at a high level.

"That just shows the growth of Calvin," Ostmeyer said. "He's a leader on the court. The attitude and character of the team begins with Calvin. If he stays positive and upbeat, our whole team is."

It seemed to rub off, as nearly everyone got involved at some point in the game.

Senior Chase Carlson had nine points, three assists, and three steals, Eric Vogel and Luke Gordon each chipped in with eight points, and Isaac Hett had seven points to go along with four rebounds and three steals.

By the end of the game, all 13 Warriors saw the court.

The overall effort of the Warriors caused 33 Black Bear turnovers, and MHS doubled-up Sterling on the offensive glass, 16-8.

"Those are numbers I can live with," Ostmeyer said.

Another one is the 15-19 shooting for the Warriors from the foul line.

"We're getting better every game," Ostmeyer said. "We're continually fixing our weaknesses."

After five straight road or neutral games for Marion before Tuesday, the Warriors don't travel farther than Hillsboro until Feb. 1.

They will have home games Jan. 4, 5, 11, and play in the Hillsboro tournament Jan. 14-19 before a league match-up Jan. 25 again at Hillsboro.

MHS travels Feb. 1 to Lyons.

Sterling dropped to 1-4 overall, and 0-1 in MCAA play.

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