Marion boys blitzed by Black Bears, scratched by Moundridge Wildcats

>Sam Zinn shoots for two during the first half with Sterling Friday. Zinn scored nine points in Marion’s 95-69 loss. A sharp-shooting Sterling squad handed Marion a 95-69 loss Friday. The Black Bears made 15 3-pointers, 11 of which came from Lucas Briar and Kenan Comley in the first three quarters of play.

Sterling took a 20-11 lead after one quarter of play, then the 3-point shooting barrage took center stage. The Black Bears made seven treys in the second period, including three in a one-minute span to build their lead to 30-13, and later, three by Briar in a 1:18 stretch.

Chase Stringer and Sam Zinn scored the last two baskets of the half, leaving Marion trailing, 50-30.

“We talked at halftime, we were our own worst enemy,” coach Terry Edwards said. “We need to go our speed, not their speed. We knew they were going to come in and fly down in the sideline break, and one pass and shoot the three and then try to press to speed us up. At times, we bought into that.”

Stringer scored six of Marion’s first eight points of the third quarter, but Ster­ling hit five more threes, and the Warriors couldn’t keep up. By the end of the third period, Marion trailed, 77-52.

Stringer scored 10 of Marion’s final 17 points. Both teams cleared their benches en route to the final, 26-point spread.

“In my mind, we score 70 points, we ought to win,” Edwards said. “This is like the third time we’ve lost scoring 70 points. We’ve got to get better at the defensive end.”

Stringer led all scorers with 30 points. Zachary Stuchlik scored 14. Mean­while, Briar led the Black Bears with 28 points. Comley scored 21.

Moundridge—Marion suffered a 78-69 loss Tuesday to a Wildcat team led by the Dillon Vogts and Noah Eichelberger, who combined to score 65 points.

Vogts made nine 3-pointers and led all scorers with 34 points, while Eichelberger made 10 2-point baskets and drained three treys on his way to a 31-point night.

“I’ll take the blame for not making the adjustment soon enough,” coach Terry Edwards said. “I didn’t want to come out of the zone because I knew what they were going to go five out, spread the floor, and I didn’t know that we could still control those guys.”

The Warriors led after one quarter, 19-18, with Chase Stringer scoring eight of his team-high 21 points in the period and Sam Zinn adding seven points.

A 17-9 Wildcat effort in the second quarter, led by 12 points from Eichelberger, put Marion in a hole too deep to escape. Marion trailed, 35-28, at halftime.

Although Vogts drained four 3-pointers in the third quarter, Marion nearly matched Moundridge’s offensive production. Stringer led the effort with seven points. Eli Hett made a 3-pointer, and Zinn, Evann Heidebrecht, Noah Dalrym­ple and Blaine Mermis each made 2-pointers. Mound­ridge took a 54-46 lead into the final period.

The teams battled fairly evenly through the fourth quarter. Heidebrecht scored 10 points, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

Stringer scored 21 to lead Marion. Zinn and Heide­brecht each scored 12. Zachary Stuchlik scored 11.

Coming—Marion (1-4, 6-9) was scheduled to host Sedg­wick Tuesday and will travel to Hutchinson Trinity Friday.

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