Ending of a streak

MARIA STEIN - Minster's 2018 stop at the Hangar couldn't have been much worse.

Mike Ketner made sure his team left the building feeling better this time around.

Ketner scored nine of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter as Minster snapped Marion Local's 15-game MAC winning streak with a 45-42 result on Friday at the Hangar.

The Wildcats improved to 9-4 and 3-1 in MAC play. The defending state and MAC champion Flyers fell to 5-5 and 3-1. Prior to Friday, Marion's last conference loss had come on Feb. 3, 2017, when they were handed a 61-59 defeat at Minster.

The Flyers were down 10 points midway through the fourth quarter but came back to make it a one-possession game. With 11.2 seconds left, Ketner went to the free throw line and sank a pair to extend the Wildcats' lead to 45-42. Marion Local couldn't connect on two 3-point tries to tie the score on its final possession.

"To win here, in that kind of fashion, it was very similar to the Loramie game when we were up seven or 10 or whatever and then we gave up a lead at the end," Minster coach Mike McClurg said. "Tonight, our guys were tough enough to get it out. We made some free throws and we guarded well there at the end. It was a freakin' war."

Last year, the Wildcats, playing without big man Jarod Schulze, were defeated by the Flyers 70-44. And it looked like Marion was primed to run away for a big win again on Friday after opening the game on a 10-2 run. That didn't happen this time, though.

Ketner hit a one-handed, contested shot that cut the score to 10-8 after one quarter.

Max Albers began period two with his second 3-pointer for Marion, but the Wildcats scored seven unanswered points, with Cody Frericks and Trent Roetgerman each getting to the paint for buckets before a Ketner trey gave them their first lead. Ketner scored 10 in the first half, adding another 3 to send Minster in front 23-21 at halftime.

"Mike's good," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "He deserves everything he gets because I know how hard he works at it. We had a great defender on him (Matt Rethman) and I thought he did a good job on him most of the time. We didn't want to go in after the game and complain about our defense because we only gave up 45 to a really good team. … But we thought we broke down in some key spots."

The area's leading scorer, Marion Local's Nate Bruns, was held to four first-half points. He was forced to sit down early in the second half after picking up his third foul. Ketner followed with a 3 from the corner. Shortly after, Schulze connected on a turnaround hook shot in the paint for a 28-21 lead.

After a long offensive lull by Marion, Bruns returned midway though the third. Then Flyers went on a 7-0 run, with Matt Everman scoring four points and Bruns delivering a 3-pointer to even the score at 30-apiece with 1:30 remaining.

Ketner scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, hitting two free throws and then a jumper. Marion had turnovers on its first three possessions and then shot an airball on the fourth. Noah Enneking cashed a triple for Minster to extend its lead to 37-30 with five minutes to play. The Wildcats' advantage grew to 10 points with 2:54 left when Ketner splashed a 3 after a defensive breakdown by Marion.

The Flyers' deficit shrunk quickly, however.

A 3-pointer by Sam Huelsman cut the score to 43-38 with 30 seconds on the clock. Then Minster missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Bruns buried a trifecta to make the score 43-41. Then the Wildcats turned the ball over. Bruns drove and found a cutting Nick Tangeman, who was fouled on the shot. Tangeman made 1 of 2. Ketner was fouled on the inbound and cooly knocked down two free throws for a three-point lead. Marion missed its first tying attempt, got an offensive rebound and couldn't connect on the second shot, either.

"We struggle offensively," Goettemoeller said. "This is really one of the first games where Nate did not shoot the ball well. I think Nate has been doing a tremendous job this year. He gets so much of the attention and yet he was still shooting the ball well and scoring. Give them some of the credit, but tonight he struggled in the first 3 1/2 quarters just shooting the ball. There at the end, he did a nice job. We made a run and we had an opportunity to tie the game."

Ketner surpassed the 20-point mark for a second straight game. He scored 25 in Tuesday's win over Greenon. On Friday, he made 7 of 11 shots (including 4 of 5 from 3) and went 4 of 4 from the free throw line.

"He was big time," McClurg said. "I just thought he played his tail off. He scored 22 points, but he does so much for us defensively, too. He's not always guarding their best player, but he's a communicator and he's turning into a floor general. He's a true leader for us and our program."

Of course, McClurg had glowing remarks to say about his defense, too, after holding Bruns to 12 points on 4 of 15 shooting. Bruns entered the contest averaging 21.5 points per game.

"I thought Jack Heitbrink did an unbelievable job on Bruns," McClurg said. "Jack usually isn't the guy who guards the other team's best player, but this week I could see the fire in his eyes when I told him he was going to guard Bruns. Jack's a thicker kid and he's also a really determined kid. I think he held him to four in the first half and I don't know how much he ended up with. That was a lot of Jack Heitbrink but it was also a lot of Jarod Schulze around the rim, because we knew there would be times when he would get beat and Jarod was there to stuff him. Everybody was challenging shots at the rim. That was just a good team effort - all eight or nine guys we used today."

The Flyers are scheduled to visit Jackson Center tonight. Both Minster and Marion will take part in the Flyin' to the Hoop Showcase at Trent Arena in Kettering. The Wildcats play Crestview on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Flyers meet Cardinal Stritch on Monday at 3 p.m.