Gabe Schaeffer (3) of Marysville goes up for a shot against Worthington Kilbourne on Tuesday. The Monarchs held off a Wolves’ rally and won, 44-40. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Except for the fact it was a victory, there wasn’t much in the way of pretty words to describe Marysville’s 44-40 boys basketball verdict over Worthington Kilbourne on Tuesday.
MHS head coach Ryan Grose sat in silence for a while after the contest thinking of what he wanted to say.
“There just really wasn’t a lot of flow to this game,” he said, noting that both teams finished with more than their share of empty possessions.
“There were some fouls and stoppages of the clock which prevented a flow,” he said.
The Monarchs (who improved their record to 13-8) took a 35-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
Nothing about the final eight minutes, however, was guaranteed for the home team.
“We got into a little bit of a hurry during the final quarter,” said Grose. “We executed our stuff, but we didn’t finish a few plays.
“We missed some shots, including free throws, that prevented us from putting away the game.”
The first three quarters of the contest were not the most exciting basketball seen in the Monarch gym this season.
Kilbourne’s Ian Schupp, a 6-5 post player, began the contest with a dunk and later added a free throw as the Wolves jumped out to a 5-2 lead.
Gabe Schaeffer went backside of Kilbourne’s zone defense for a baseline layup that cut Worthington’s lead to 5-4.
Jack Christian put some spark into MHS’ offense when he buried back-to-back trifectas that pushed the home team out to a 10-7 lead.
Garrett Taylor’s semi-hook shot stretched the advantage to 12-7 with 1:45 remaining in the period.
Schupp followed with his second slam assault on the bucket that cut Kilbourne’s deficit to 12-11.
Both teams swapped empty possessions for the final minute as the Monarchs took a one-point lead into the second set.
Free throws from Taylor and a three-ball by Ryan Barlow padded Marysville’s margin at 17-11.
Evan Brown followed suit from beyond the arc.
Taylor scored on consecutive possessions and all of the sudden, MHS’ upper hand expanded to 24-11.
The Wolves reduced Marysville’s lead by five points, but Schaeffer’s jumper pushed the home team out to a 26-16 spread.
Schupp scored inside the paint, pulling the visitors to within 26-18 at the turn.
Baskets from Cayden Dougherty and Mitchell Tomasek sliced into the Monarchs’ lead at 28-22 early in the third period.
Brown dialed in a shot from beyond the arc and Schaeffer scored in the paint, stretching the margin back to 33-22.
Barlow later scored on the baseline after an assist by Spencer Mills.
In doing so, he sent MHS into the fourth stanza with its 35-24 margin.
Things got mighty uncomfortable for Monarch Nation during the fourth set.
Schupp recorded his third dunk and then hit another basket as the Wolves pulled to within 35-30.
Taylor hit a pair of free throws with 5:04 on the timer to give MHS a little breathing room at 37-30.
Kilbourne (10-10), however, did not go quietly into the night.
Braydon Biehn ripped the net for a three-pointer.
Brian Wilson added a free throw to pull the Wolves to within 37-34 with less than four minutes to play.
Taylor connected on a charity toss and took advantage of Christian’s assist for a bucket that gave MHS a 40-34 margin with less than three minutes to play.
Taylor came up with a steal in the post with 2:43 on the timer.
The Monarchs, however, couldn’t convert on the other end of the floor.
Schupp drove the lane, hit the field goal and was fouled.
His free throw narrowed MHS’ spread to 40-37 with 2:04 on the clock.
Both teams had goals in mind at that late stage of the battle.
The Monarchs’ was to put more room between themselves and the Wolves.
Kilbourne’s plan was to narrow its deficit even further.
Neither accomplished what ir wanted to do until Christian hit the front end of the one-and-one with 24.8 seconds to play.
That offering gave MHS a 41-37 lead.
Marysville had an opportunity to widen the gap in the double bonus with a little more than 12 seconds on the timer.
A pair of free throw attempts by Brown missed the mark.
Schupp climbed the boards for a rebound and was fouled.
He hit both ends of Kilbourne’s one-and-one, further reducing Marysville’s lead to 41-39.
Both teams played the timeout chess match and the Wolves also had to foul in the hopes of regaining possession of the ball.
Christian’s lone charity toss at the 8.7-second mark gave the Monarchs a precarious 42-39 lead.
MHS, wanting to prevent the Wolves from firing up a potential game-tying trifecta, committed a foul with six ticks on the timer.
Dougherty sank one free throw to make it a two-point game.
He missed the second shot.
Wilson snared the rebound, but also missed a field goal attempt.
Christian was fouled on the rebound with 0.9 seconds to play.
With MHS in the double bonus, he cashed in on both charity tosses to give the Monarchs their four-point margin of victory.
While Marysville didn’t get any “style” points for the contest, it did add another win to the ledger.
The Monarchs will close out the regular season on Friday at Hilliard Davidson.
A victory would keep them in the running for a share of the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division championship.
Marysville
Taylor 5-5-15, Christian 2-4-10, Schaeffer 2-0-6, E. Brown 2-0-6, Barlow 2-0-5, Duke 1-0-2, Mills 0-0-0 N. Brown 0-0-0. Totals 14-9-44.
Three-point goals: Christian 2, E. Brown 2, Barlow 1.
Worthington Kilbourne
Schupp 8-8-24, Tomasek 3-0-6, Dougherty 1-1-3, Biehn 1-0-3, Parsons 1-0-3, Wilson 0-1-1, Gardner 0-0-0, Mecklenberg 0-0-0. Totals 14-10-40.
Three-point goals: Biehn 1, Parsons 1.
The MHS jayvees and freshmen also won their games against the Wolves.
The reserves scored a 52-24 verdict as Isaac Tocci scored 13 points.
The frosh had four players in double figures during their 66-50 victory.
Nick Wever poured in 22, Shawn Xie scored 13 and both Braden Deere and Connor Smith each added 10.