Flyers roll past Wildcats

MINSTER - Minster held a 10-point lead over Marion Local during the first quarter Tuesday night.

The Flyers fixed that slowly but surely.

Marion Local outscored Minster 20-6 in the second quarter and gradually pulled away for a 56-41 win in its Midwest Athletic Conference opener. The Flyers (3-1) have won three of four to start the season, with their only loss coming at the hands of St. Marys last week.

"First of all, a ton of credit to (Minster coach) Mike (McClurg) and his kids," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "I think Mike is doing a great job. They blitzed us in the first quarter. I definitely warned our kids that when you go on the road in this league, you've got to buckle your chin straps. We just flat-out were not ready in the first quarter, and a lot of the credit goes to them.

"At least we responded. We got the lead by half," he added. "We played a pretty decent third quarter. We did not handle pressure well in the fourth quarter, but we're still relatively young in certain spots. We've got a ton of learning to do."

The contest featured a combined 43 fouls and nearly that many turnovers, too. The Wildcats (2-6, 0-2 MAC) were feisty all night defensively, but couldn't get it done offensively, shooting only 36% compared with Marion's 50%.

Kole Richard netted six of his team-high 15 points in the first quarter, leading Minster out to a 10-point lead with two minutes left. Marion committed six turnovers and trailed 16-8 after one frame.

"That first eight minutes was the best we've played defensively all year," Minster coach Michael McClurg said. "That translated to some points on the offensive end. We shot it pretty well and shared it."

But the Flyers later tied the score at 20-all on a free throw by Knapke before taking the lead on a steal and layup by Tate Hess. The Flyers held a 28-22 advantage at half.

"At some point, you don't really worry about what the score is," Goettemoeller said. "You just worry about competing hard and playing well. Once we got through that first quarter, I thought we did a much better job of just playing hard."

Knapke's 3-point play gave Marion a double digit lead 2 minutes into the third quarter. Turnovers piled up and shots did not fall for Minster, which never got within eight points for the duration of the second half. Knapke capped his 16-point night with a dunk in the fourth frame.

"Honestly, I think they just wore us down as the game went on," McClurg said. "They kept bringing in guys and more and more pressure, and we were less apt to score as the game went on."

Hess had 14 points for Marion. Jaydn Mescher added 10. Austin Niekamp finished with a team-high 11 rebounds.

Cole Albers had a team-high six rebounds for Minster.

Both teams are back at it tonight. Marion Local heads to the Palace in Coldwater to play in the Asset Allocation Associates Holiday Classic against Celina around 7:30 p.m. Minster heads to Heckman Gymnasium in Ottoville to take on the Big Green.