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Marion Local's Brayden Mescher (32) goes between Minster's Brogan Stephey (12) and James Niemeyer (0) during Friday's MAC game at Wildcat Gymnasium.
MINSTER - Marion Local took advantage of a short-handed Minster squad and rallied from 10 points down to post a 59-51 victory in the Midwest Athletic Conference finale Friday night at the Wildcat Gymnasium.
Minster seemed to be in control of the game, leading 26-16 with 2:40 left in the first half. But late in the second quarter Minster's 6-8 junior center Cole Albers hobbled into the locker room with an apparent knee injury.
Albers would not return. Neither would the Wildcats' mojo. And both coaches agreed Albers' exit from the game had a major impact.
"That was a huge factor in the game I felt like we would have won it," Minster coach Michael McClurg said. "We were doing all the things we should have done, but a lot of our offense and a lot of our defense is based around Albers. He's one of those kids we never take out of the game, unless he's in foul trouble."
"No question. That totally changed the complexion of the game when Cole went out," Marion Local coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. "We're praying for Cole and hopefully he can get back and play in the tournament, but the game obviously changed a lot when he went out."
Albers left the game with eight points and seven rebounds, but Minster also lost his ability to match up with Marion's 6-8 center Austin Niekamp.
The Flyers looked to get the ball inside to Niekamp who had 18 of his game-high 23 points after Albers had left the game.
Minster was 6-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 from the foul line to take a 16-14 lead after eight minutes.
The Wildcats scored the first eight points of the second quarter to open up a 24-14 lead with 4:45 left in the half.
Minster's Andrew Ketner (2), tries to tip the ball away from Marion Local's Kale Ahrens during Friday's MAC game at Minster.
Ryan Homan, who had seven points in the opening period, ended the Flyers' second-quarter drought with an inside bucket at the 4:11 mark of the first half.
"This was a very good team win for everybody, but I really complimented Ryan Homan," Goettemoeller said. "He kind of kept us in the game in the first half when things weren't going well. He's a senior and he stepped up. I told our kids you're going to have different guys step up on different nights and Ryan did for us tonight."
Albers would score his last bucket of the night to put the 'Cats up 26-16, but Marion Local closed out the first half on an 8-2 run to trail 28-24 at the break.
Grant Kremer opened the second half with a trey, and Niekamp added a pair of free throws to give the Flyers their first lead of the game, 29-28.
The lead would change hands five more times in a back-and-forth third quarter that ended with Marion leading 45-44.
The Flyers took control when Niekamp and Kale Ahrens combined to score the first seven points of the fourth quarter for a 52-44 lead.
Minster's Kole Richard goes up for a shot as Marion Local's Austin Niekamp defends.
The Wildcats would make it a one possession game, 52-49, on a pair of free throws by Kole Richard with 2:40 left in the game, but Marion played some sticky defense and hit 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch to pull away.
"I thought our defense the last three minutes was pretty good," Goettemoeller said. "We just did not want to let them shoot threes. We wanted them to make tough twos."
"They were up in us and switching a lot on the guard-to-guard screens that we set," coach McClurg said. "It was tough to get clean looks. But I was proud of the guys for fighting through that adversity and still being in the game late. Obviously we just didn't make enough buckets down the stretch."
Minster did get James Niemeyer back in the lineup for the first time since going down with a knee injury before Christmas. As for Albers, coach McClurg said the initial prognosis is that the injury is not too serious and that he may return for the tournament.
The Wildcats were led by Richard with 16 points, and finish the regular season at 14-8 and 6-3 in the MAC. Minster will host Hardin Northern next Friday as the Division VII tournament gets under way.
Niekamp snared 11 rebounds to go along with his 23 points. Homan was also in double digits with 14.
The Flyers, 20-1 and 8-1, finish their regular season tonight at unbeaten Russia. Marion will tip off Division VI tourney action next Friday against Allen East at the Hangar.
