Warriors vanquish Trojans in OT
Sports reporter
Simple shot, sensational finish.
When Travis Hett's chip shot fell through the cords as the buzzer sounded Friday against Hillsboro, more than 14 years of futility were trampled beneath the feet of jubilant Marion High School Warrior fans, who rushed the court to celebrate a thrilling 44-42 overtime victory over the visiting Trojans.
It was the first time a Warrior boys' varsity basketball team had defeated their cross-county rivals since a 69-67 squeaker Dec. 8, 1992.
"The last time Marion beat Hillsboro, some guys on our team were just learning to walk," grinned Hett following the game.
The biggest two points of Hett's game-leading 21-point performance wouldn't have happened without the daring and creativity of Calvin Jeffrey.
The capacity crowd in Marion High School Gymnasium was braced for the Trojans to take the final shot, as Hillsboro inbounded the ball in back court with four seconds remaining.
Jeffrey, narrowly avoiding a foul, leaped in front of a Trojan player to intercept the inbound pass at the Hillsboro free-throw line.
As he fell forward, he scooped the ball up against the glass. Hett collected the carom to score the winning hoop.
"I just took a chance, and it worked out," said Jeffrey matter-of-factly.
It took another heroic effort by Jason Hett just to get the Warriors to the overtime period.
Having rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to knot the score 34-34 at the end of the third quarter, the Warriors found themselves trailing by three, 42-39, as Trojan Lucas Hamm stepped to the free-throw line with 31 seconds remaining.
Hamm missed the charity, and Emmanuel Jackson ripped down the rebound and moved the ball upcourt.
Justin Heidebrecht found Jason Hett all alone on the right side, and Hett buried a three with only 11 seconds remaining to force the tie.
The Warriors had to withstand two more Trojan opportunities in regulation, the second ending when Aaron Stepanek's three-point attempt glanced off the rim at the buzzer.
Marion head coach Rex Ostmeyer indicated the drive of seniors Travis Hett, Jason Hett, Kyle Hett, and Jackson was a key element to the team's winning effort.
"I think there was just a great desire to win," said Ostmeyer. "When you have veterans on the court, four seniors with the last chance they had to beat their rival, they just kept their composure, they fed off the crowd, and they made some plays."
Marion needed all the composure it could get, after chilly first-half shooting by the Warriors left them staring at a 26-14 halftime deficit. Marion scored just six points in the second quarter, and shot 28 percent from the field in the first half.
Ostmeyer's counsel to the Warriors at intermission was straight and to the point.
"I told them we just had to make some shots," Ostmeyer said. "We talked about how the game wasn't over, how all we had to do was start hitting shots."
Marion needed less than six minutes to erase the deficit, with a Jason Hett layup capping the comeback at the 2:13 mark of the third quarter.
"We just ran our offense better in the second half, and we hit our shots," said Hett, reinforcing Ostmeyer's prescription.
The overtime was marred by a controversial call by the officials when a driving Jason Hett collided with Hamm.
One official called Hamm for a blocking foul, while another whistled Hett for charging.
The game stopped for several minutes as the officials conferred, first among themselves, then with the two head coaches.
The final decision was a rare double foul, sending both Hamm and Hett to the bench with their fifth fouls. Marion retained possession, and held the ball until the final seconds, when a rebound tipped out of bounds off Marion set up the thrilling finish.
In addition to Travis Hett's 21 points, Jason Hett scored 11 for Marion. Hamm topped Trojan scorers with 14, while Troy Frick added 10.
"I'm just really happy for Jason and Travis and Emmanuel and Kyle getting to go out like this," Ostmeyer said. "We have plenty of games still to go, and we could run into Hillsboro again at substate, but this was special."
Ostmeyer's first win over the Trojans is one more first that has the Marion skipper eager for the remainder of the season.
"I've never beaten St. John's before, we beat them, never beaten Garden Plain, we beat them, never gotten out of the first round of the Trojan Classic before," Ostmeyer reflected.
"Hopefully we can get back in the mix at substate," he continued, "and what the heck, we haven't been to state in 15, 16 years — let's give that a try."
Marion 48, Sterling 40
Less than 24 hours after their overtime win against Hillsboro, the Warriors were back on the hardwoods again, visiting Sterling Saturday for a tilt against the Black Bears.
Jeffrey shouldered the Warrior scoring load, hitting seven of 10 shots from the field and three of four from three-point range for 17 points.
Marion once again got off to a slow start, trailing 13-10 at the end of the first quarter, but rallied in the second using stingy defense to take a 28-19 lead at halftime.
Sterling pulled back to within one, 34-33, by the end of the third quarter, but an early Warrior run in the fourth helped Marion coast to a 48-40 win.
Jason Hett scored 13, and Jackson tallied 11, hitting three shots from beyond the arc.
Following a Tuesday night tilt at Nickerson, the Warriors return to Marion High School Gymnasium Friday for homecoming action against Lyons.
