Sunrise size too much; Warriors take sixth
Sports reporter
For a half they were right there. Down 21-20 to Sunrise Academy at the break Saturday, the Marion High School Warriors looked like they were poised for a fifth-place victory in the Hillsboro Trojan Classic.
Trailing by as many as nine in the first half, MHS rallied back to cut the lead to one and even had a shot rim out at the buzzer that would have given them the lead.
Instead they were outscored 31-20 in the second half, mainly giving up points in the paint to the much taller Bison, and fell, 52-40.
Big man Bart Visinskis had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bison.
Even though they fell victim to poor shooting in the game, head coach Rex Ostmeyer was pleased with his team's play.
"I thought we played well defensively, and executed our offense well," he said. "It just came down to us missing open shots. We just couldn't get them to fall."
Another reason he may have been happy was the improvement of his team from the first game of the tournament.
As the seventh seed, MHS fell Jan. 17 to Belleville 64-39 in an all-around poor effort.
"That was as bad as we've been all year," Ostmeyer said of the loss.
But the Warriors came back Thursday and edged out Hesston 47-46.
Jason Hett had 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, and Russell Ploutz added a career-high 13 points and six rebounds.
"We finally got that Hesston monkey off our back," Ostmeyer said. "Absolutely it was a positive from the end of the week compared to the beginning."
MHS actually dominated the Swathers jumping ahead 17-8 after the first quarter.
A 17-10 third quarter for Hesston cut the lead to one, but Marion held on for the victory.
"We could have put them away, but we didn't," Ostmeyer said. "We finished it off in the end and that's what matters."
In the final game against Sunrise the Bison hit just one less three-pointer, three, than Marion did despite attempting 14 less.
MHS finished 4-20 from the behind the arc and 15-42 overall.
"We had open looks," Ostmeyer said. "They just didn't go in."
The 1-2 week gave the Warriors a 4-8 record overall and 2-1 in the Mid-Central Activities Association.
While the tournament is a nice break during league play, the real season for Marion starts again Friday when the Warriors travel back to Hillsboro for a match-up with the Trojans.
Hillsboro blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead Saturday in the championship game to Riley County before losing in overtime.
The Trojans are 3-1 in the MCAA and 9-3 overall.
