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Marion Local's Jack Knapke dunks against Minster in the Division IV sectional final at Wildcat Gymnasium on Friday.
MINSTER - Minster started out cold, finished cold, and didn't warm up much in between.
Credit an aggressive 2-3 zone defense deployed by Marion Local for most of the game, limiting the Wildcats to 27 percent shooting in a 55-45 Flyer victory and sectional title Friday night at the Wildcat Gymnasium.
Marion Local (11-13) will now see if the third time is a charm. The Flyers advance to the Division IV district semi-finals Tuesday in Wapakoneta to take on St. Henry in the 7:30 p.m. game. The Redskins (18-5) have already knocked off Marion Local twice this season - 76-66 in December and 63-54 in January.
Minster (13-10) struggled out of the gate, missing its first eight shots from behind the arc in the opening quarter. The Flyers opened up a 12-5 lead before Cole McClurg ended the drought with a trey to pull the Wildcats within 12-8 to start the second.
Offense continued to be hard to find for Minster in the second quarter. After Kole Richard hit a trey with 4:14 left in the half to cut the Flyer lead to 23-18, the Wildcats did not get another field goal the rest of the half. Daniel Everman, Austin Niekamp and Grant Kremer went on a 6-0 run to give Marion a 31-20 advantage at the break.
"They were playing in that 2-3 zone most of the night. We got a lot of open looks and a lot of shots that didn't go," Minster coach Michael McClurg said. "If they went, it's probably a different ball game. But that zone is just long enough to distract you, and we didn't do a very good job against it."
Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said they started playing the 2-3 zone back in late January when they faced Minster in a MAC game.
"If you're going to play it, you have to commit to it. You can't just play half man and half zone, and we totally committed to it. We've gotten better and better at it," he said. "It fits our personnel and we played really well defensively tonight. They have some really good shooters. They can score at all five spots so they're hard to guard."
Neither team could gain much advantage in the third quarter. Cole Albers and Brogan Stephey hit early treys for the Wildcats, but 6-9 senior Jack Knapke started to dominate.
Knapke scored the first five points for Marion in the third, while Niekamp scored the last six, including a trey in the closing seconds to put the Flyers up 42-32.
Minster rallied from a double-digit deficit late in the January game to beat the Flyers, but a repeat was not in the cards on Friday.
"At the start of the fourth, it was the exact same situation the last time we played them," Goettemoeller said. "This time coach (Jacob) Sherrick got into 'em in the huddle and said, 'Here we are again, and it's time to step up and make plays.' "
Minster missed its first 11 shots from the floor in the final quarter. Neither team hit a field goal until Kremer knocked home a short baseline jumper with 3:30 left in the game.
"I think the guys started pressing themselves. We got down and they were shooting a little quicker than we needed to," coach McClurg said. "That's part of it. Then I felt like every time we would get a chance, or make a little bit of a run, there was a quick bucket on their end."
The Flyers spread Minster out, allowing Knapke to convert two monster slam dunks in the final two minutes.
"When you see a couple plays end in a Jack dunk, that means you're handling pressure, and you're beating pressure for easy ones," Goettemoeller said. "And credit Daniel Everman for handling the ball and creating those plays."
Marion Local's Daniel Everman tries to sneak a pass past Minster's Cole Albers.
Niekamp had 20 points to lead all scorers. Knapke contributed 18 points, 11 rebounds and several blocks.
"Jack was absolutely huge because they got a guy that can defend him one-on-one in the post, and he did a pretty good job on Jack the first time we played," Goettemoeller said. "Jack just said, 'Hey, this is my senior year, I've been through these wars before. I'm going to the rim and you can't stop me.' "
Albers and James Niemeyer paced the Wildcats with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
