The Marion boys finished with a 1-2 record and sixth place at the Trojan Classic in Hillsboro last week.
A 61-36 loss to top-seeded Hesston in the first round set up a Thursday afternoon contest against the hosts. Marion outscored the Trojans 16-5 in the fourth quarter to win the game, advancing to face Wamego in the fifth-place game on Saturday. The Red Raiders defeated Marion 71-43.
Wamego—The Red Raiders got off to a quick start in the battle for fifth place, outscoring Marion 5-0 in the first minute and bullying their way to a 13-3 lead out of the gate.
Sparked by two layups and a fast-break jump shot from Eric Vogel, Marion put together a 6-2 run to cut it to two possessions at 15-9.
Luke Gordon put back a Calvin Jeffrey miss 53 seconds into the second quarter and rejected Josh Dunback at the other end, but a turnover sparked a 6-2 Wamego run.
The half ended with the Warriors in a 28-15 hole.
“I just really didn't feel, across the board, that we cametoday with a ‘look’ that we wanted to compete and battle against a really good team,” coach Rex Ostmeyer said. “We have a very small margin for error, so each game we have to be ready to fight and claw and scratch on every possession, and it just didn't seem we came with the energy or the attitude today to do that.”
Marion put together a stronger effort in the third quarter, but the Red Raiders made eight of 12 shots from the field to expand their lead to 17 points.
Late in the period, Marion rattled off a 7-3 spurt on the strength of an outburst by Jeffrey and a 3-pointer by Mitchell Leppke.
Two late layups by Mark Ten Eyck slowed the Warriors’ momentum and gave Wamego a 47-30 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Warriors trailed by 18 with 6:14 to go, and were outscored 14-3 the rest of the way. Gordon posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Vogel scored 12 points, Jeffrey 9, and the rest of the team 8.
Grant Shaw put up 23 points for Wamego, including 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Shaw led the team with five assists and four steals.
Hillsboro—The game was closely contested, with Marion putting together a 12-1 run during the final 5:35 to claim a 59-49 win.
Eric Vogel went 6-for-6 from the field and led Marion with 13 points. Calvin Jeffrey scored 12 and Justin Heidebrecht 11.
(See Hillsboro game coverage on Page 1B for the full story.)
Hesston—The undefeated Swathers forced 20 turnovers and limited the Warriors to 34 percent from the field on their way to a 61-36 win.
"I am not sure we were quite ready for Hesston's physical defense, we turned it over way too much early in the game and they really bumped us out of anything we wanted to do offensively,” Ostmeyer said. “When we got into our sets and got the ball reversed and things like that, we had some success, we just didn't handle the initial pressure well at all."
Hesston multiplied the effect of its defense by outrebounding Marion 34-24, and converted 24 points off turnovers and 20 on second-chance points.
Hesston starters Alex Roth and Michael Janzen each scored 12 points, and Brett Liechty added 10 off the bench.
With 10 points, Eric Vogel was the only Warrior to crack double-digits in the game.
Coming—Marion (4-7 overall, 1-1 league) will matchup again with Hillsboro (6-5, 2-0) Friday night in Brown Gymnasium.
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