Jack Christian of Marysville High School drives to the hoop during a basketball against Westland. Christian set a new school record for three-point goals in a game with nine to help bring his point total to 32 during the Monarchs’ 91-65 win.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
––––
A new king was crowned during the Marysville boys’ 91-65 basketball victory over Ohio Capital Conference rival Westland on Friday.
The young freshmen Jack Christian was instrumental in the landslide victory by setting a new school single game three-point goal record with nine. MHS head coach Ryan Grosse could not have been more excited for his shooter.
“Anytime we get a guy that catches fire like Jack, it makes it a lot of fun,” he said.
Though the point gap was large by the end of the contest, Westland was able to give the Monarchs a run for their money early on as each team exchanged offensive blows throughout the opening eight minutes of play.
The Cougars were able to exploit the Monarchs’ zone defense and pick up buckets from the wings. In doing so, they kept the game close at 20-18 after the first quarter.
“We were not as aggressive as we needed to be early in the game and that has been a battle that we have been fighting the whole season,” said Gross. “If we commit to being aggressive on both ends of the floor, we can be a good basketball team.”
The second quarter is where the tide really changed for the Monarchs.
Christian pulled up for an early three-pointer to start his drive toward a new school record.
The Monarchs went to a strategy that produced immediate results as they drove down the floor and passed to Christian for the long ball.
Christian obliged with five three-point goals in the quarter to help the Monarchs widen the lead to 52-34 at halftime.
Christian’s ability to hit the three came as no surprise to Gross.
“ I expected it out of him because he didn’t have a good game our last game,” said Gross. “He is the kind of kid who got right back in the gym and got back to work. There is a reason why he is playing varsity as a freshmen and I’m happy for him.”
Christian came out of the lockerroom and went right back to work for the Monarchs during the third quarter.
He picked up his seventh, eighth and ninth three-point goals of the game to give Marysville a monstrous 84-50 lead going into the final quarter.
The Cougars made up ground on the Monarchs in the final stanza.
However, the work done by Christian and his teammates was just too much to overcome as MHS upped its record to 6-7.
The Monarchs will return to action on Tuesday when they host Franklin Heights.
Marysvile- Christian 10-3-32, Eberhart 5-4-14, Hughes 6-1-13, Karnes 2-5-9, Ranker 4-0-8, Fransico 2-1-5, Schaetter 2-0-4, Colopy 1-0-3, Duke 1-0-2, Seifring 0-1-1
Three-point goals: Christian 9, Colopy 1
Westland- Burns 5-0-14, Holbrook 4-3-13, Martinez 5-1-11, Danning 3-0-8, Evans 3-0-6, Winegardner 2-1-5, Clark 2-0-4, Kadir 1-0-2, Nur 1-0-2
Three-point goals: Burns 4, Danning 2, Holbrook 2