Marion swept by Inman

Inman swept the Marion Warriors tonight on their home hardwood, handing the girls a 36-31 loss before routing the boys? team by a 25-point margin, 54-29. The disappointing outcome throws cold water on the Warriors? comeback attempt fueled by last Friday?s sweep of Bennington for the Warriors? homecoming.

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Girls

The Warriors started out sluggish and kept the look throughout the game, interrupted only occasionally by bursts of scoring and faster play. The Teutons started off slow on the scoring end as well, but managed a three-point lead, 8-5, on the Warriors at the first break.

A nine-point scoring run by the Teutons put them ahead, 17-7, with two minutes left before the half. The Warriors slipped into their scoring groove a moment later. They held the Teutons at 17 points while going on a 10-point scoring run that put the Warriors behind by four points, 17-13, at the half, and tied the game 17-17 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.

The Warriors? comeback would not last, though.

The Teutons took back control of the game, building their lead to the largest of the game, 30-19, before the Warriors once again rallied. They scored five straight points with around five minutes left in the game, then a minute later went on another five-point run to put them within two points, 29-31.

However, the Warriors faltered and were unable to take the lead, letting the Teutons walk away with their five-point victory.

The Warriors had 30.4% shooting, but lost in turnovers and at the free throw line, where the Teutons scored 11 points to the Warriors? three points.

?We just didn?t get enough free throws,? said Warriors coach Randy Savage. ?Twenty-three turnovers is too many, and we made some silly baskets.?

He said the Warriors? Whitney Gordon had a pretty good game, putting up points despite having to work hard for every one of them.

?I just felt like we were sluggish and a little disjointed,? Savage said.

Gordon was the only Warriors? player to hit double digits, with 12 points. Kaitlynn Goalden led the Teutons with 10 points for the night.

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Boys

Despite the glaring absence of one of the Warriors? strongest players, Jordan Hett, due to illness, the Warriors stayed with the Teutons to the first break, where they were tied with the Teutons 7-7.

That all changed a little under two minutes into the second quarter, when the Teutons? Taylor Hicks found the basket to kick off a 13-point scoring run that would hold the Warriors scoreless at 10 points until one minute into the second half.

By the time the Warriors? Dane Pukeypile went to put points on the board to snap the streak, the Teutons had a 14-point lead, 24-10.

The rest of the third quarter did not improve for the Warriors. Not even Jacob Harper?s two three-point shots could keep the Warriors from trailing the Teutons 37-23 at the end of the third quarter.

Four and six-point scoring runs built the Teutons? lead as the game clock wound down and they drew increasingly further ahead of the struggling Warriors, finally winning 54-29.

?I was a little disappointed,? said Warriors coach Jeff McMillan. ?We were missing a lot of shots obviously. There were some aspects of the game where we should have fought a lot harder, like in rebounding.?

He said an overall lack of aggressiveness on offense contributed to the defeat.

?I kind of felt we were going in with the deck stacked against us, missing Jordan [Hett],? McMillan said. ?But we need to do a lot better in those areas.?

The Warriors did seem to acutely miss Hett?s steadying court presence and high scoring, appearing to lack rhythm and confidence.

The Warriors were also forced to do without senior Jordan Versch for a portion of the game, while he attended to a bloodied chin after hitting the hardwood. Normally a solid player for the Warriors, Inman held Versch to just five points on the night.

The Warriors? Dane Purkeypile turned out to be the unexpected bright spot for the Warriors tonight, leading the team both in scoring and in total rebounds with 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Teutons? Luke Ropp led them in scoring with 19 points, followed by Bryce Case and Tyler Cottam, both with 10 points for the night.

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