Flyers, Skins to meet in title game

WAPAKONETA - Top-seeded Marion Local and second-seeded St. Henry will meet for the Division IV district championship on Friday at 7 p.m. in Wapakoneta.

The Flyers' Tyler Mescher outscored New Bremen single handily in the first half as Marion ran away for a 61-31 win in the opener of Tuesday's district semifinal doubleheader. The nightcap between the Redskins and Minster was much closer, though. Curtis Uhlenhake hit five 3-pointers, including three in the third quarter, and St. Henry survived Minster's late rally for a 49-46 victory.

Marion Local (20-4) rides an eight-game winning streak into Friday's matchup and fifth-ranked St. Henry (21-3) has a six-game winning streak going. The regular season meeting between the teams, however, went the Flyers' way by a margin of 77-40 at the Hangar in Maria Stein.

"Throw that game out the window, because (coach Eric Rosenbeck) will have his kids prepared and ready to go," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "We know it's going to be a fight to the finish, just like it should be in the district finals."

Marion Local 61,
New Bremen 31

The score was lopsided in Marion's favor when they met New Bremen during the regular season.

Nobody expected the score to be that way again on Tuesday - especially with New Bremen coming off a nearly 40-point thrashing of third-seeded Upper Scioto Valley in the sectional final. But it was.

Chalk it up as a bad matchup for the Cardinals.

"Saying they're really good is an understatement … but they're really good," New Bremen coach Adam Dougherty said. "They're like the worst possible matchup for us - a team with length, with quickness that can just keep us in front. They take away our ability to just out-work people. That's what we live on."

Mescher made his living in the paint.

He connected on 5-of-5 around the rim in the game's first 3 1/2 minutes, outscoring New Bremen 10-0. Mescher finished with 14 points in the quarter while Nate Bruns and Justin Albers both added 3s. The Cardinals went 1-of-13 shooting and trailed 20-3 after one.

"He was getting point-blank looks," Goettemoeller said. "A lot of that was because of his ability to create space inside. He does such a great job. The second thing was his teammates were getting him the ball in good spots, too. It was a team thing, and Mescher did a great job for sure."

Mescher went on to finish with game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (nine) - receiving high praise from Dougherty when the night was through.

"Mescher plays like he's 6-8," Dougherty said. "He's amazing. I don't mind saying this. I voted for him as player of the year in our league. No disrespect to Justin Ahrens at all. Justin Ahrens is obviously an awesome basketball player. But Tyler Mescher does more for his team than anybody in our league and does it at 6-2."

Marion held New Bremen scoreless until Koby Paul's layup with 2:28 remaining in the second quarter. The Flyers led 38-7 at the intermission.

A drive and layup by Nate Bruns made the score 42-7 to set the running clock into effect with just under 7 minutes left in the third quarter. The score was 51-16 after three.

Bruns added 14 points and eight boards for Marion.

Luke Vonderhaar scored six points to lead New Bremen, which ends the year and tournament run with a record of 11-14.

"I'm really proud of these guys," Dougherty said. "This is a senior class that won two games in two years of junior high basketball. They've had very limited athletic success and it's not because they're not good kids. They are great kids, and it finally just clicked. Last week was just awesome and I'm glad they got to experience that."

St. Henry 49,
Minster 46

It was a rather mum first half between St. Henry and Minster, but excitement followed after halftime.

St. Henry created separation with a 14-2 run spanning from the third quarter into the fourth. Then Minster made a charge in the final 3 minutes and had a tying bucket attempt hit off the back iron.

It sets up the first postseason meeting between St. Henry and Marion Local since the 1997 district final, a game won by the Redskins 72-52.

"They are an excellent ball team," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "The way that they pressure the basketball gives everyone trouble. We'll have our hands full. We'll enjoy this win for about 2 hours and then we'll get ready for Marion Local."

Uhlenhake was the difference-maker for St. Henry on Tuesday - hitting five 3s over the final 16 minutes and change.

"We talked at halftime that the first 3 minutes of the third quarter were going to be the most important," Minster coach Mike McClurg said. "But then man, it got towards the end of the third and (Uhlenhake) just finds corners and finds open spots. He shoots it above his head and it's extremely hard to guard."

Devin Huelskamp scored the go-ahead basket in the first quarter on a nice feed from Tyler Schlarman and St. Henry led 11-8 after one.

The Redskins held the lead for most of the second quarter. Minster got back-to-back and-1s by Mike Ketner and Cody Frericks to take a 19-16 lead just before halftime, but Uhlenhake tied it with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The lead changed hands seven times in the third quarter. The score was tied at 29-all when Uhlenhake drained his third 3 of the quarter and then Zach Niekamp added a bucket to make the score 34-29 entering the fourth.

St. Henry's run stretched to 14-2 early in the third quarter, Uhlenhake dialed up his fifth triple in the process. The Redskins' lead grew to as many as 13 after that.

Minster went without a field goal from the 4:10 mark of the third until the 2:21 mark of the fourth, when Mike Ketner banked-in a triple. The lead was cut to 45-37 on the shot.

With 1:10 remaining, an Adam Knapke steal and layup cut the score to 47-41. St. Henry turned over the ball out of bounds on its following possession, and Knapke made a 3-pointer with 1:03 to play to pull Minster to within three.

St. Henry missed the front end of a one-and-one seconds after. A layup by Ketner with 22 seconds to play made it a one-point game. Ryan Luttmer converted 1-of-2 for St. Henry to extend the lead to two and give Minster a chance at a tie. Knapke's contested shot from the paint drew back iron and Luttmer rebounded the ball with 1.1 seconds left to secure the win.

"We teach next play, and I don't know if we were in a next-play mindset," Rosenbeck said. "We got caught up with a couple of bad hops, when a couple of things don't go our way. There was a banked-in 3. There was a ball that gets thrown right to Knapke that leads to a layup. We need to make sure we keep moving on to the next play."

"When you're down 11 or 12 early in the fourth, a lot of teams roll over," McClurg said. "We'e worked on that because we have rolled over a couple times this year. But we fought pretty hard, so I was proud of them. We got a nice look at the end to tie it up. Adam kind of reverse-pivoted and had a nice little runner with his right hand. It hit the back of the rim, and you just never know."

Zach Niekamp added nine points for St. Henry.

Ketner paced Minster with 11 points. Isaac Schmiesing had nine while Cody Frericks added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, who finish the season with a mark of 15-8.