Warriors chase Bulldogs off court
Sports reporter
Marion Warriors started the 2004-05 season on the right foot Friday, knocking of the Chase County Bulldogs, 63-54.
Senior Dale Vogel had a game high 21 points and 15 rebounds to go along with four steals.
Vogel also finished 9-10 from the line.
"It was nice to get that first one," coach Rex Ostmeyer said. "Especially when you don't know what to expect."
That's because Vogel was the lone returning starter from a year ago.
Starters Nick Carlson and Jason Hett helped Vogel on the offensive end.
Carlson had 12 points, while Hett finished with nine points, six rebounds, three assists, and five steals.
Defensively Marion (1-0) switched from man-to-man and zone, and used an occasional full-court press.
"We forced them into some quick shots, which is what you want in a press," Ostmeyer said. "I thought we did pretty well."
The Warriors forced 15 turnovers, but also committed 22 themselves.
Marion also made only 15-34 free throws, and missed six in a row in the fourth quarter.
"It was very stressful there for a few minutes," Ostmeyer said.
Leading 55-53 with just more than three minutes left, and in the midst of the free throw slump, sophomore Travis Hett scored four straight points for the Warriors. He finished with 10 points and four blocks off the bench.
"Travis probably saved the game for us," Ostmeyer said of his late basket and two free throws.
The game wasn't always close however, as Marion jumped ahead early.
A 10-0 first quarter run gave Marion a 11-5 lead they would never relinquish.
Jason Hett had five points in the quarter, including a three-pointer from the top of the key, as Marion led 20-11.
The Bulldogs scored the last four points of the half to make the score 32-26 in favor of Marion.
The third quarter belonged to Vogel. He took over with eight points, and crashed the boards, barely allowing his man to even touch the basketball.
A 10-point lead heading into the fourth seamed like more than enough for the Warriors.
An 11-3 Chase County run trimmed the 10-point lead to two, before Travis Hett displayed his late-game heroics.
"We rebounded well out of man-to-man," Ostmeyer said. "But in the second half we rebounded poorly in our zone."
Even though Ostmeyer realized it's harder to rebound out of a zone, he felt a few players were a little too keyed up in the their first varsity game.
"It was a little bit of fatigue, a little bit of nerves," he said.
Overall Ostmeyer was happy with the team's performance.
"Even though we made it a little more interesting than we needed to," he said. "At least they know they've been there before and next time they can have confidence because they were in a tight game and they went ahead and pulled it out in the end."
Marion played Burrton Tuesday in the first round of the Inman tournament. They resume play Thursday night against St. John at Inman, before closing out the tournament Friday against Inman.
