Interior design

MARIA STEIN - It was a victory by design in Maria Stein.

An interior design.

With Minster big man Jarod Schulze in concussion protocol, Marion Local had its way inside as it pulled away for a 70-44 victory over Minster in Midwest Athletic Conference play at the Hangar.

Nathan Bruns had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Tyler Mescher added 18 points and Flyers won their seventh in a row to improve to 12-3 and 5-0 in the MAC.

"(Not having Schulze) changed it a lot because we're a team that likes to get a lot of points on the interior and we were able to do that tonight," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "If we would have to play them again at some point, the game would change a little bit. But you've got to give us credit. You've still got to find ways to score depending on who you're playing on a given night. We were able to go inside tonight and get a lot of easy baskets."

Minster (9-6, 3-3 MAC) trailed just 33-30 at halftime, but went 6-of-23 shooting in the second half en route to dropping its third contest in a row.

"I think they had more intensity in the second half than we did," Minster coach Mike McClurg said. "It got to 10 and we called timeout. It got to 15 and then we called timeout. We got to a stretch where we just couldn't guard them. Mescher's just such a load on the block. We didn't do a very good job of keeping him off his spot. Mescher and Bruns pretty much had their way in the second half."

The Flyers hit 6-of-11 shots in the first quarter and also went 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. The Wildcats made just 3-of-14 shots and trailed 18-10 at the end.

But Minster found its shooting touch in the second quarter - hitting 8-of-10 shots. Mike Ketner and Jack Heitbrink scored five each for the Wildcats in the quarter and Isaac Schmiesing knocked down two 3-pointers, including one just before the halftime horn to make the score 33-30.

That, however, was the closest the Wildcats would get.

Marion Local went on a 13-0 run in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, with five different players scoring. Minster shot 0-of-9 during the stretch and McClurg called two timeouts in an effort to stop the bleeding.

When the buzzer sounded to end the third, the Flyers had built a 56-36 lead. Bruns and Mescher led the 23-6 assault with a combined 16 points, most of those buckets were scored in the paint.

"Getting off to a good start in the second half was very important," Goettemoeller said. "I thought Minster played very well in the second quarter. They were making some tough shots. Their guards, Schmiesing and Ketner, are excellent. Obviously, not having their big man changed the complexion of this game a lot. But you've still got to give us credit because they're still a load to stop offensively even without him."

Bruns scored 12 of his game-high 19 in the second half, finishing 9-of-12 from the floor.

"We've kind of moved Nathan on the perimeter a little bit offensively just to free him up and let him use his athleticism a little bit, and I thought he made a lot of plays tonight, whether that was scoring the ball or finding open guys," Goettemoeller said.

Nick Tangeman scored 10 points for the Flyers. Justin Albers and Tyler Prenger added eight apiece.

Ketner had 13 points and Schmiesing added 10 for Minster, which hopes for another shot at Marion Local come tournament time.

"Absolutely," said McClurg when asked about a potential rematch. "I think there's some things we really need to work on. In the first half I think we really opened up a little bit offensively. We started hitting some shots. In the past four games, we really haven't been hitting shots. We started shooting the ball better in the first half, so that was a good sign. Hopefully we can start to come together a little more."

Both teams take to the road for games with Shelby County League teams tonight. Marion Local plays at state-ranked Fort Loramie and Minster meets Jackson Center.