The Marion boys suffered two losses last week to drop to 1-6 in Heart of America league play, 5-14 overall.
Elyria Christian—Marion suffered a 63-42 loss Friday in the teams’ second meeting of the season. The Warriors lost to the Eagles in the Centre tournament quarterfinals a month ago, 61-58.
Elyria Christian’s Tyler Thiessen, Caleb Froese and Aidan Fields accounted for 46 of the Eagles’ points. Thiessen was the game’s high scorer with 20.
“They’re just a matchup problem for us because you can’t play man-to-man,” coach Randy Skiles said. “If (you) do, then they just go inside and you can’t match up with one of them.”
Marion turned the ball over on its first four possessions, and when nothing fell for the Warriors, the Eagles built a 7-0 lead. Zachary Stuchlik scored Marion’s only basket of the first period at the 2:45 mark. Sam Zinn added a pair of free-throws, but by the first break, Marion found itself in a 10-point hole, 14-4.
That hole grew to 18-4 after three more Warrior turnovers and two missed shots. But after that, Evann Heidebrecht scored to ignite a 9-0 Warrior run, single-handedly scoring eight of those points to bring Marion within 18-13 with 2:02 left in the half. The teams traded scores the rest of the way. Elyria led, 25-18, at halftime.
The Eagles extended their lead to 32-18 before Heidebrecht made two free-throws. Marion later used a 6-1 run to trim its deficit to 37-30, but a 10-4 Eagle run after that left Marion trailing, 47-34 at the final break.
The Eagles built to their largest lead of the game, 62-38, with 3:05 to play and went on to win by 21.
Heidebrecht led Marion’s effort with 11 points.
Inman—Marion got off to a slow start in a 52-29 defeat by a tall Teuton team Tuesday.
The Warriors missed their first seven attempts from the field, allowing the Teutons to build an 8-0 lead. Mason Pedersen took the lid off the basket by scoring with 5 seconds left in the quarter. Inman hit a shot at the buzzer to lead, 10-2.
The Teutons extended their lead to 15-2 before Zachary Stuchlik scored the game’s next six points to bring the Warriors within 15-8. By halftime, though, the home team had built its lead to double figures, 23-13.
Marion doubled its first-half production in the third quarter. Stuchlik contributed five points to the effort, and Pedersen, four. But with the Warriors plagued by foul trouble, an already limited bench with the absence of Nathan Baldwin and Noah Dalrymple became even more depleted when Chase Stringer fouled out with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Peyton Heidebrecht later fouled out. At the final break, Inman led, 41-26.
Inman outscored the Warriors, 11-3, in the fourth quarter. Pedersen scored from beyond the arc at the 4:30 mark to account for Marion’s points in the period. Inman scored the game’s final six points to win by 23.
Assistant coach Terry Edwards led the team in the absence of head coach Randy Skiles, who missed the game because of illness. Edwards explained the Warriors’ strategy to combat Inman’s height.
“(We wanted) to keep guys moving and penetrate,” he said. “Try to get the ball inside or at least suck them inside so we could throw the ball outside. We want to reverse the ball, get it inside and kick it out, and take midrange jump shots versus all the threes we think we have to live with.
“We were a little short-handed tonight.”
Stuchlik led Marion’s scoring effort with 11 points.
Coming—Marion was scheduled to conclude the regular season at Berean Academy Tuesday. Sub-state seeding will take place today. See hillsborofreepress.com for bracket information.
