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Marion Local 60 Wapakoneta 39
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
Wapakoneta Daily News
MARIA STEIN — The effort is there for the Wapakoneta
Redskins varsity boys basketball team, and their coach
sees it.
The results are not — at least yet, varsity basketball
coach Scott Minnig said after Saturday’s 60-39 loss to
the Marion Local Flyers in a non-league game.
“I just got done telling my assistant coaches the effort
is there — they are not giving up and they are battling
all the way to the end of the game,” Minnig told the
Wapakoneta Daily News after his team’s record slipped to
0-4 on the season. “We just have to start doing some
basketball things better — shooting the ball, taking
care of the ball, that sort of stuff.
“Right now, we are trying to find an open shot and step
in with confidence and no hesitation and knock it down,”
the coach said as he watched the team score 26
second-half points, hitting on 6-of-14, or 42.8 percent,
in the fourth period. “It has been a struggle to this
point, but ultimately those shots are going to fall. If
we hit some from the outside, then the inside will open
up, or if we start to hit some on the inside, then the
outside will open up.”
Whether hitting shots from the outside or inside, Flyers
answered every attempt the Redskins made in trying to
mount a comeback.
“I was pleased with the intensity that we came out with
to play this game, but I thought we played hard last
night and that will be a key for this group,” Marion
Local varsity boys basketball coach Keith Westrick said
after his team’s record bumped up to 1-1 on the season.
“We are a little bit undersized, and I realize Wapak is
not a real big team either, but we are just going to
have to outwork people all year long.”
Hustle and clutch shots by Marion Local frustrated the
Redskins.
Midway through the third period with the Flyers leading
32-13, junior post player Mike Bogan hit the tail end of
two free throws. Senior post player Jake Lambert then
hit a bucket and made his free throw to bring the
Redskins to 32-17, with momentum on their side as their
defensive pressure started creating some turnover.
Flyer guard Troy Prenger hit a 3-pointer to give Marion
Local an 18-point lead. Lambert hits a bucket and two
free throws to cut the lead to 14, but Flyer post player
Jason Wolters hits a pair of free throws to close out
the scoring in the period.
After the Flyers’ Luke Bertke hits a bucket to start the
fourth period, Wapakoneta junior post player Kody Kohler
scored and guard Jackson Hayzlett nailed a 3-pointer to
close the gap to 13, but Marion Local went on a 10-1 run
to take a 49-27 lead midway through the final stanza.
Hayzlett hit two more from behind the arc during the
period along with Kohler and junior post player Jacob
Heinl contributing points to help the Redskins keep pace
with the Flyers in the last period.
Hayzlett finished with a game-high 12 points, tying him
with Marion Local Jared Prenger for top honors.
Another dagger keeping the Redskins from breathing any
momentum into the game were clutch shots at the end of
each period. Flyer guard John Pederson hit a trey to end
the first period and give Marion Local a 15-5.
Marion Local’s Troy Prenger, Jason Wolters and Jared
Prenger hit buckets at the end of the second period to
extend a 20-13 lead to 27-13. Wolters hit two free
throws to end the third period and give the Flyers a
37-21 lead, with Flyer post player Nathan Tangeman
hitting a layup to close the game.
Minnig praised Lambert for taking the leadership role in
the third period. Lambert scored 7 of his 11 points in
the period, hitting two buckets from inside the paint
and nailing three free throws.
“I am proud of him and his effort tonight (Saturday),”
Minnig said. “As a senior, and the only senior, he is
showing great leadership at this point in time and
really taking this group under his wing and trying to
lead in the right way.”
Lambert led Wapakoneta with 6 rebounds, 2 offensive and
4 defensive, according to unofficial statistics. He also
had 1 block.
In the second half, Minnig tried to wear down the
Flyers, who had many players transitioning from the
football team’s state playoff run. The Wapakoneta coach
called for a full-court press and man-to-man pressure on
the ball.
“We knew we had to do something to change the tempo and
knowing they were a little rusty from football we tried
to pick up the tempo and see what their stamina was and
see if they could handle the pressure,” Minnig said. “At
times it worked and other times they hurt us when we
were in it. I thought it was what we had to do.”
Westrick said he was impressed by the Redskins
half-court offense in the second half.
“They put us into foul trouble because they started
cutting to the basket and cutting very well into the
middle and we weren’t picking people up as well as we
should have,” Westrick said. “For us, it is a manner of
us learning our defense.”
He also said he was taken by surprise when they came out
pressing the inbounds pass.
“We hadn’t seen that out of them, and I didn’t have down
that I saw any kind of a press,” said Westrick, who
scouted the Redskins in their games against the Piqua
Indians and the Fort Recovery Indians. “We didn’t handle
it that well. I thought their pressure up front was
pretty decent and we turned it over a couple of times.
“We functioned just well enough to get some easy baskets
behind them.”
Wapakoneta 5 8
8 18 — 39
Marion Local 15 12 10 23 — 60
Wapakoneta: Jackson Hayzlett 4-0-12, Mike Bogan
0-1-1, Shane Helmstetter 0-0-0, Zane Oen 0-0-0, Kody
Kohler 4-0-9, Jake Lambert 3-4-11, Jordan Ruppert 1-0-3,
Justin Steveley 0-0-0, Jacob Heinl 1-0-3. Totals:
13-5-39.
Marion Local: Tyloer Thobe 0-0-0, John Pederson
1-0-3, Troy Prenger 3-0-9, Jared Prenger 5-1-12, Brian
Heitkamp 0-0-0, Adam Schulze 1-0-3, Jarren Griesdorn
0-1-1, Jason Wolters 3-2-8, Luke Bertke 3-0-6, Nathan
Thobe 3-1-7, Travis Winner 2-1-5, Taylor Stucke 0-0-0,
Nathan Tangeman 2-0-4, Jordan Bertke 1-0-2. Totals:
24-6-60.
3-point goals: Wapak - 8 (Hayzlett 4, Kohler 1,
Lambert 1, Ruppert 1, Heinl 1) Marion Local 6 (T.
Prenger 3, Pederson 1, J. Prenger 1, Schulze 1)
Fouled out: None
JV score: Marion Local 39, Wapakoneta 29 |