Still standing

WAPAKONETA - Marion Local and Parkway are still standing after Tuesday night.

In the opening district semifinal, the Flyers held the ball for 3 minutes and 52 seconds in the second overtime against New Bremen before Alex Eyink drove inside for a layup at the buzzer to give his team a 45-43 victory.

Later, Caden Slusher put on a 3-point clinic as Parkway held off Minster for a 48-43 victory - clinching the program's first-ever berth in a district basketball final.

On Jan. 10, Parkway defeated Marion Local 44-42 at The Hangar in Maria Stein. It was the program's first win over Marion in 10 years and Parkway coach Doug Hughes knows it'll take a lot of effort to get another.

"The next 48-72 hours for any coach getting ready to play Marion Local is kind like going to the dentist and getting a root canal," Hughes remarked. "You know what's coming. It could be painful, but we'll be prepared."

Marion Local 45,
New Bremen 43 (2 OT)

Flyers coach Kurt Goettemoeller saw the Twitter reaction after last week's sectional game between Russia and Jackson Center, when the Raiders played stall ball for a large portion of the game in what ended up being a 24-12 loss to the Tigers.   

Marion Local took a page right out of the Russia playbook on Tuesday.

The Flyers won the jump ball in the second overtime and held it at half-court. The Cardinals let them do it. And with time winding down, Eyink got into the lane, made a spin move and scored.

Some people hate the tactic. Some people love it. The only thing the Flyers care about is that they're moving on.

"This is probably going to be all over Twitter as well, but who cares?" said Goettemoeller, who used to teach at Minster with Russia coach Dave Borchers. "I thought Dave Borchers was absolutely right - and you guys can write that in the paper. He was stone-cold right. If you want to argue that there should be a shot clock, that's fine. I could get into that argument, and I don't disagree. Maybe there should be. But nobody should criticize Dave Borchers for what he did because that was the absolute right play to try to win a basketball game for his team."

Added New Bremen coach Cory Stephens on how the second OT played out: "We need a stop. Nothing else matters. We need a stop. That's it. I didn't care if the stop takes all night, and then we can worry about scoring."

For a second straight game, New Bremen (14-11) rallied from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to force overtime. But Brady Ronnebaum made a 3-pointer late in the first OT to keep Marion's season alive. The Flyers (13-12) improved to 3-0 in double overtime games this season and extended their winning streak to eight straight. The Cardinals saw their seven-game victory streak end.

New Bremen didn't lead at all in regulation.

Marion Local led 9-5 after one quarter and 20-14 at halftime. New Bremen had just seven shot attempts and 10 turnovers through 10 1/2 minutes of action. The Cardinals never got closer than four points in the second quarter.

The Flyers' lead hung between six and nine points for most of the third quarter. A Logan Suchland layup just before the final buzzer cut Marion's advantage to 27-23 entering crunch time.

The Cardinals went 0-of-5 shooting over the next four minutes. During that time, Eyink swished a 3-pointer and two free throws to make it 32-23. A hoop by Bornhorst made it a seven-point game with 3:56 remaining.

New Bremen turned up its pressure and it led to a David Homan steal and layup with just over three minutes to go. After Marion missed the front end of a 1-and-1, David Homan drove and scored again.

Bryce Moeller kept Marion in front with a pair of free throws and a layup after beating the press. Bremen kept coming, though.

Homan had another bucket and Bornhorst drilled a 3 to cut the deficit to 36-34 with a minute to go. After Marion's Matt Everman made 1-of-2 from the line, Patrick Wells stuck the game-tying trey with 35 seconds to play.

"It was just about stepping up our defensive intensity," said Stephens about the fourth-quarter surge. "When you do that, your offense comes and the ball starts going in."

Dan Homan's hoop gave New Bremen its first lead of the night early in overtime. Nathan Ungruhn's offensive stickback tied it, but Dan Homan scored again the next trip down. The Flyers' Moeller split a pair of free throws with a chance to tie it. Marion Local missed two chances for the go-ahead buckets. Reece Busse's free throws stretched Bremen's lead to 43-40.

But Eyink drove down the floor and dished to a wide-open Ronnebaum, who swished a trey to tie it.

"Huge shot. Absolutely huge," Goettemoeller said.

Eyink scored a team-high 13 points for Marion Local, and there was no doubt he would have the ball in his hands for the winning shot, his coach said.

"In that situation, you don't think of plays, you think of players," Goettemoeller said. "Alex is one of our best players. You get the ball in his hands and he went and made a play."

After beginning the season 2-9, Marion Local has now won 11 of its last 14 games to reach a fourth consecutive district final.

"We were dead-in-the-water and we figured out a way to get it to a second overtime," Goettemoeller said. "We were 2-9 and 5-12 at one time. "This group has never quit on us and just keeps working and working. Now we're in the district championship game. I'm just elated for these guys."

Dan Homan had a team-high 11 for New Bremen. Bornhorst and David Homan pitched 10 each for the Cardinals, who hadn't lost since Feb. 1 at Botkins. New Bremen began its winning streak with a 39-26 win over Marion on Feb. 7.

"The seniors were huge," Stephens said. "In my last year of coaching freshmen, (the current senior class) went 2-13 as freshmen. Now look where we're at. Next year, we want to take the next step."   

Parkway 48,
Minster 43

The Panthers keep doing things they haven't done before.

Add another to the list.

Caden Slusher made five 3-pointers after halftime and went 6-of-10 overall from long range, lifting Parkway over Minster and into its first district final.

"Since 1961-62, we've had five sectional titles," Hughes said. "The other previous four times, we've lost in the district semis. This is a huge accomplishment. We just keep checking things off."

Caleb Kinney went 6-of-8 shooting in the first half on his way to 14 points. Parkway led 6-4 after one quarter and 19-13 at halftime.

"I was OK with where we were coming out of halftime," Minster coach Mike McClurg said. "Obviously we didn't shoot the ball very well. I thought we guarded pretty well in the first half. Then Slusher just comes out on fire."

Slusher went 3-of-3 from 3-point range in under 2 1/2 minutes to start the second half, with his personal 9-0 run stretching Parkway's lead to 28-13. The Panthers held a 32-21 lead after three quarters.

"(Slusher) has the green light as soon as he steps over half-court," Hughes said.

"You can't say enough about the performances of Caleb and Caden," he added. "Caden hit some really big 3s to put us up double digits in the second half."

But Minster went on a 6-0 run in the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter, closing the gap to five. Bryan Falk had four in that span, Eric Schmidt converted two freebies and Trent Roetgerman's hoop later made it an 8-0 run to put Minster's margin at 32-29.

Then Slusher did it again.

Slusher made his fourth and fifth 3-pointers, Kinney found Hughes for a layup after he made a backdoor cut and Parkway's lead soared to 40-29.

Minster made a late push as three consecutive hoops by Schmidt made it a 42-39 game with just over a minute to play, a run which included three Parkway turnovers. However, Schmidt missed a point-blank look after another Parkway turnover. Trent Roetgerman couldn't convert a contested shot in the paint. After collecting the rebound, Kinney was fouled and split pair to make it a four-point lead.

More intrigue followed.

Minster would miss its next shot attempt. Hughes found Kinney wide-open down the floor, but he missed a bunny. After drawing a foul at the other end, Schmidt made two freebies with 23 seconds left to make it a 43-41 score. But the Panthers made 4-of-4 shots from the charity stripe to close it out.

It was Parkway's second win over Minster in two weeks. The Panthers won the Feb. 21 meeting 40-39 in Rockford.

Slusher and Kinney scored 19 apiece for the Panthers.

Schmidt finished with 12 points and Roetgerman added 10 for the Wildcats, who had their season cut short in the district semifinal for a fourth straight year.

"I think there's a lot of pride for any coach who does win our district," McClurg said. "I haven't gotten out of here yet. I think there's a lot of pride in knowing how tough of a district this is. You could say that our league was down this year. But the reality is, it's still pretty freaking tough."