MHS’ Evan Brown brings the ball upcourt and begins to start a play during Tuesday’s game against Dublin Jerome. The Monarchs won, 51-47. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Dublin Jerome’s boys basketball team used a defense that tried to keep the Marysville Monarchs off-balance Tuesday evening.
“This was the first time we’ve faced a zone for an entire game this season,” said MHS head coach Ryan Grose.
The Monarchs are more accustomed to encountering straight-up man-to-man defenses, with a smattering of zone mixed in for good measure.
While MHS had trouble at times attacking the Celtics’ zone, they came out on top, 51-47.
“We were patient moving the ball around the perimeter until something came open,” said Grose.
The Monarchs (9-7 overall and 4-3 in the Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division) used the long-ball to counter the Celtics’ defense during the opening half.
Marysville’s Jack Christian swished a pair of three-pointers within the first four minutes of the opening quarter.
His second trifecta broke an early stalemate and gave MHS an 8-5 edge.
Garrett Taylor got a basket inside the zone and Ryan Barlow knocked down a trey that expanded Marysville’s upper hand to 13-5.
Jason Moore followed Taylor’s example for a 15-5 MHS spread.
Jerome notched a basket by Ryan Nutter and pulled to within 15-7 by the end of the stanza.
Christian fed the ball to Taylor for an inside bucket, nudging the Monarchs’ margin to 17-7 early in the second quarter.
The Celtics, who remained pesky the entire game, closed to within 17-14 with approximately five minutes left until halftime.
Shots from beyond the arc by Riley Karnes and Barlow later extended MHS’ lead to 23-15.
Christian drilled his third three-pointer of the half for a 26-18 spread.
Dublin Jerome, however, still proved to be up to the challenge during the latter stages of the period.
The Celtics finished on a 6-1 run, narrowing their deficit to 27-24 by the turn.
Jerome’s Luke Kuhlman buried a three-ball to tie the game at 27-all once play resumed in the third set.
Karnes gave Marysville a bit of breathing room (30-27) with another trifecta.
Jerome, though, just wouldn’t go away as it easily stayed within striking distance.
Matt Butler’s reverse layup along the baseline pulled the Celtics to within 33-31.
Evan Brown hit a pair of free throws for MHS.
Christian then found a seam in the zone to assist a basket by Taylor.
Brown’s free shots and Taylor’s bucket stretched Marysville’s margin to 37-31 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
Butler once again got through MHS’ man-to-man defense for a bucket that closed the gap to 37-34 with 1:56 on the timer.
The Monarchs turned the ball over with less than a minute to play.
Nutter drove to the basket and drew a two-shot foul at the 38.8-second mark.
He hit both free throws, pulling the Celtics to within 37-36.
The Monarchs worked the clock down for a last shot, but came up short at the horn.
Taylor connected on a pair of charity tosses for a 39-36 lead early in the final stanza.
MHS’ lead remained between one and three points for the next couple of minutes.
The Celtics, however, overtook the Monarchs.
They grabbed their first advantage at 42-41 when Nutter nailed a jumper.
Jerome’s lead vanished a minute later when Christian came up with a steal and went to the hoop for a 43-42 edge.
Nutter was again spot-on with a jumper, returning a 44-43 lead to the Celtics.
Shortly thereafter, Christian came up with perhaps his biggest shot of the game.
He flashed to the top of the key with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
The senior sharpshooter let fly with a trifecta. The offering hit nothing but net for a 46-44 MHS margin.
“Jack is a four-year letterman and he knows when to make things happen for us,” said Grose.
Both teams swapped possessions and played the timeout chess game as the contest moved into its waning seconds.
Moore followed a Jerome turnover with a shot that gave the Monarchs a 48-44 lead.
Jerome’s CC Ezirim, however, was fouled with 11.1 ticks on the timer.
He hit the front end of the one-and-one to narrow MHS’ margin to 48-45.
With time running out, the Celtics had no choice but to put the Monarchs on the free throw line.
Christian hit a pair of charity tosses with nine seconds left for a 50-45 MHS lead.
Nutter hurried a shot that cut Jerome’s deficit to 50-47.
The Celtics called timeout with 2.6 to play.
Christian was again fouled once action resumed
He made one shot with 1.5 seconds remaining to seal the deal for the Monarchs.
The Monarchs knew they had been in a tussle.
“Give Dublin Jerome a lot of credit,” said Grose. “They battled hard and made it a close game.
“We executed well,” he said. “I felt we played defense well except when it came to getting 50/50 rebounds.”
Jerome was able to keep a number of offensive opportunities alive by hitting the offensive glass.
“We have to clean the 50/50 rebounds up a bit,” said Grose.
Marysville
Christian 5-3-17, Taylor 5-2-12, Karnes 2-1-7, Barlow 2-0-6, Moore 2-1-5, Brown 0-2-2, Focht 0-2-2. Totals 16-11-51.
Three-point goals: Christian 4, Karnes 2, Barlow 2.
Dublin Jerome
Nutter 8-2-18, Butler 5-1-11, Pinney 2-0-6, Kuhlman 1-0-3, MacDonald 0-3-3, Sun 1-1-3, Butcher 0-2-2, Ezerim 0-1-1. Totals 17-10-47.
MHS’ JV teams split games with the Celtics.
The JVA squad won, 53-49.
Nick Wever led the Monarchs with 21 points and Connor Smith added 12.
The JVB team dropped a 42-31 verdict.
Shaun Xie led MHS in that game with nine points.
Merrick Reynolds added eight.