Cards down Flyers after half

NEW BREMEN - It was a barnburner in the first half Friday, then New Bremen dominated Marion Local after halftime to collect its first Midwest Athletic Conference victory.

Keaton Puthoff led a quartet of Cardinals in double figures, scoring 18 to lead a 59-42 victory at the Nest. Bremen led 28-25 at halftime before opening the third quarter on an 8-2 run and never letting Marion creep back in.

New Bremen coach Cory Stephens gave shout-outs to many players after the win. He might have been proudest of their collective defense, which limited the sizable Marion team to 17-of-46 shooting with 18 turnovers.

"Our defense was very active," New Bremen coach Cory Stephens said. "That's something that started last year when they were on JV. We tried to plan ahead. Coach (Craig) Szymczak does a great job working with them. We just played hard. I don't know the amount of deflections off the top of my head, but I felt like we always had our hands on the basketball."

Bremen only tallied five turnovers while making 23-of-47 shots. Jackson Lennartz contributed 13 points, Aaron Thieman added 11 and Rogan Muether 10.

There were ties and lead changes galore in the first half. Andrew Pohlman's 3-pointer gave Marion a 17-15 lead after one. Nine different players scored in the frame.

The lead swapped hands five times in the second quarter. Bremen took a three-point lead into the locker room thanks to nine points from Puthoff and two second-quarter triples by Muether. Their production offset a near double-double performance by Jack Knapke, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and few blocks in one half.

The Flyers scored to start the third quarter, but were stuck on 27 points for the next three minutes. In that window, New Bremen ran its lead up to double digits as its offense continued to fire on all cylinders. Marion had a handful of turnovers and fell into an insurmountable 13-point hole after three.

"Give New Bremen a lot of credit," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "Cory did a great job. New Bremen did a great job. We just weren't ready for their length out front. That caused a lot of problems.

"Having said that, we had opportunities early in the third quarter where we had point-blank shots and some open threes to stay in the game or get the lead," he went on. "Then at the end of the third quarter, they got seven offensive rebounds. It goes from a six or seven-point game to a 12 or 13-point lead. In the fourth quarter, we were in scramble mode."

Knapke finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Flyers (5-7, 2-3 MAC).

New Bremen (5-8, 1-3 MAC) has now won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"It is our first league win, but we were right there in other games," Stephens said. "You look at the Delphos game. We were tied going into the fourth against St. John's. We had a five-point lead in the fourth quarter of that game and they ended up winning. They're undefeated in the league. Against Coldwater, we were up seven going into the fourth. … We said all week that Monday was the first quarter, Tuesday was the second, Wednesday and Thursday are the third and fourth. You've got to put four quarters together to get league wins. That's what we did this week."