Bruns sets Marion's scoring record

WAPAKONETA - Marion Local's Nate Bruns had his game face on for 31 minutes and 50 seconds Tuesday.

He was smiling for the final 10 seconds.

Bruns scored off a backdoor feed from Sam Huelsman with under a minute to play, which gave him 1,366 points for his career to pass Gary Jones for Marion Local's career-scoring mark.

He dribbled out the final 10 seconds with the Marion Local student section chanting his name, before being mobbed by teammates when the final horn sounded.

Jones, now the New Bremen Athletic Director, had held the record since graduating from Marion in 1981.

"It's an honor to be here," said Bruns, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half to help second-seeded Marion defeat fourth-seeded Perry 48-35 in the Division IV district semifinal. "It hasn't been broken in a while. Gary Jones came up and congratulated me last night at the MAC banquet. It's an honor to be able to pass him. That was the biggest smile in my whole life when I hit that 20th point."

Bruns' game face will be on again Friday when Marion faces St. Henry in a rematch of last year's district final.

The top-seeded Redskins opened Tuesday's district doubleheader with a 48-41 victory over third-seeded Minster - extending their winning streak to 13.

St. Henry (21-3) and Marion Local (17-7) split the season series. The Redskins defeated the Flyers 52-47 to win the Asset Allocation Associates Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29 in Coldwater. Less than a week later, Marion defeated St. Henry 48-43 at the Hangar in Maria Stein.

At this stage last year, Marion Local outlasted St. Henry for a 39-38 victory in overtime on its way to the state title.

St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck is using a quote from professional wrestler Ric Flair as motivation leading up to the matchup. Fitting, because the physicality of the game will probably at times resemble a wrestling match.

"We've gone with Ric Flair all year - 'To be the man, you've got to beat the man,' " Rosenbeck said.

Tip off is 7 p.m. Friday in Wapakoneta.

Marion Local 48,
Perry 35

They defended like crazy and scored enough.

It was a typical Flyer basketball game.

Marion Local held a normally high-scoring Perry team to 13 of 35 shooting while winning the rebounding battle 34-17. The Commodores, winners of 13 straight entering Tuesday's game, hadn't scored less than 40 in any other game this season.

"This game is what we thought it was going to be," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "I mean, Lima Perry's not 19-3 for no reason. They're really, really good. We had major concerns defensively, whether or not we could stay in front of them. We had a few defensive breakdowns, but for the most part, we were excellent all night. We really forced them into some tough shots, and we just controlled the rebounding on both ends. The other important thing is we handled their pressure pretty well."

Max Albers' 3-pointer was the first shot to fall for either team - free throws included - and it came with less than four minutes on the clock in the opening quarter. Perry had nine turnovers in the first quarter and Marion had seven. The Flyers held an 8-3 advantage after one.

Perry took its first lead of the game 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter when Jamal Whiteside connected on a floater from 10 feet. Moments later, Albers made his second trey and the Flyers took an 18-15 lead into the locker room.

Early in the third quarter, Marion took its then-largest lead, 23-15, after a 3 by Alex Eyink and an offensive stickback by Nick Tangeman. Whiteside scored seven points in a short span, with his trey cutting the score to 25-24. Bruns, however, scored the next six points and Marion held a 32-27 advantage after three quarters.

Bruns picked up his fourth foul on what he thought was a clean swat minutes into the fourth quarter. He stayed in, though, and made plays. The MAC Player of the Year scored seven points as part of a 14-4 run to close the game.

Bruns was 8 of 15 shooting and 4 of 4 from the line. He also added eight rebounds.

"Gary played two years with 'Buck' Bruns, Nate's dad," Goettemoeller said. "We saw Gary at the MAC banquet last night. We talked to him. He knew what was going on. He congratulated Nate and wished him well. He said he hopes Nate breaks the record. Just good feelings all the way around - Gary's a super guy.

"Nate's a great basketball player, but he's still got to get better yet," Goettemoeller added. "He's still got things he can work on. We've still got things we need to do better, because we don't want this to end anytime soon."

Tangeman had nine points and 10 boards for Marion.

Ryan Yingst scored 10 points to lead Perry.

St. Henry 48,
Minster 41

The game's first six minutes featured primarily missed shots. Minster held a 4-3 lead when Rosenbeck called timeout with his team trailing 4-3 with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter. The remainder of the quarter had a little more offensive highlights.

Caden Niekamp scored two inside hoops for St. Henry and Andrew Lange splashed a 3-pointer before the quarter ended. Mike Ketner made a left-handed, behind-the-head assist to Jarod Schulze for Minster. That, however, was about the only highlight for the Wildcats early on.

St. Henry led 10-8 after one quarter and 21-12 at halftime. Caden Niekamp had nine points at the half. The Wildcats made just 2 of 21 shot attempts.

Zach Niekamp, coming off a 27-point performance against Ada in the sectional final, scored seven points in the third quarter for St. Henry, which held a largest lead of 10 early in the second half. Minster, however, cut the deficit to 33-28 by the end of three thanks to baskets by Jack Heitbrink and Ketner.

Cody Frericks and Schulze each scored inside for Minster in the fourth. St. Henry's Sam Hartings had four points of his own to combat that and keep his team in front by three. But Schulze collected an offensive rebound and scored off the glass, drawing Minster within one, 37-36, with 2:50 to play. Caden Niekamp buried a trey the next trip down. Then Heitbrink followed with one of his own. Caden Niekamp missed a 3 try the next trip down, but Jay Knapke got the rebound and scored. St. Henry reclaimed a five-point advantage when Ben Evers got a tear drop to fall.

Soon after, Caden Niekamp injured his ankle while grabbing a rebound and dropped the ball right into the hands of Frericks, who made a layup. That was Minster's last basket, though. Knapke had a block and two free throws in the final 30 seconds. Ethan Thieman also converted two at the line as St. Henry earned a trip back to the district final.

Rosenbeck said it took a total team effort to get the win, St. Henry's second over Minster this season.

"Jay Knapke is relentless," Rosenbeck said. "He went from being JV as a junior to being first team All-MAC as a senior. That speaks volumes about who he is and what he's about. All sorts of guys stepped up. Zach Niekamp had a big second half - again. Sam Hartings filling in for Caden. Caden hit a big 3 before he got hurt. We had a lot of guys stepping up in a lot of different ways."

St. Henry finished 15 of 48 shooting and 14 of 15 from the foul line. Minster went 13 of 46 shooting and had a rare off night from 3-point land, making 3 of 15.

"You've got to credit St. Henry and how hard they guard," Minster coach Mike McClurg said. "They're not an easy team to get clean shots off on. They know how to use their body. They know how to position themselves. They're taught well. They're well coached. I think you've got to give those guys a lot of credit with how they approached it. But you've got to give our guys a lot of credit, too, in terms of how we battled in the second half.

"We had them where we wanted them," McClurg added. "We brought it to within one, then we missed a checkout. We missed a few assignments on defense and we didn't get a few buckets. That was the critical point of the game."

Caden Niekamp had a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds. Zach Niekamp pitched in 12 points.

Schulze had a team-high 15 points for Minster. Ketner added 11.