Marysville’s Jack Christian (4) drives to the basket against Westland on Friday. The Monarchs defeated the Cougars, 53-40, to remain unbeaten in the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
There is an old saying that goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.”
While Marysville High School’s boys basketball team probably didn’t feel contempt for Westland on Friday night, the familiarity of the opponent might have been a factor as MHS defeated the Cougars in somewhat ugly fashion, 53-40.
Although the Monarchs upped their Ohio Capital Conference Central Division record to 6-0, it wasn’t their best game of the season.
There also didn’t seem to be a lot of energy on display.
“It’s tough when you play someone a second time during the season, especially when you’ve already beaten them,” said MHS head coach Ryan Grose.
The coach said there may have been a little “over-confidence” on the Monarchs’ part, since the outcome didn’t match the excitement of their earlier 63-54 win at Westland.
Both teams had trouble putting the ball in the hoop during the first quarter.
The Cougars’ employed a box-and-one defense, geared to thwart MHS guard Jack Christian.
“Jack’s had some big games against Westland in the past,” said Grose. “He can go off for 35 points at any time, so I can’t fault their strategy.”
Westland didn’t stay in the defensive alignment for very long as several other Monarchs stepped up on offense.
Garrett Taylor tallied a game-high 21 points, while Evan Brown and Ryan Barlow hit key three-point shots.
“Jack still found a way to score 17,” said Grose.
Westland later went to a man-to-man defense and couldn’t match up with the Monarchs.
The Cougars went on top, 9-6, on Drew Panning’s trifecta with slightly less than three minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Joey Duke fed the ball to Brown and Taylor for buckets that sent MHS into the next set with a 10-9 edge.
Barlow let fly with a three-pointer that tied the game at 13-all during the early going of the second period.
Barlow then assisted on Taylor’s bucket that gave MHS a 15-13 edge.
The Cougars took their final lead of the night at 16-15 when Panning buried another three-ball.
Christian converted a steal into a layup and Brown knocked down a trifecta for a 20-16 MHS lead.
The Monarchs began to separate themselves from the Cougars during the final few minutes of the half.
Christian nudged the nylon twice on three-point offerings that sent MHS into the halftime turn with a 27-19 advantage.
Taylor tallied a pair of buckets to begin the third stanza.
Duke then drove the lane for a lay-up that stretched Marysville’s lead to 33-21.
A long three-ball from Taylor and a jumper by Kade Focht helped propel the Monarchs to a 42-27 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Christian tickled the twine with another three-pointer that pushed the Monarchs out to one of their biggest leads of the night at 45-29.
MHS, though, had still not safely tucked away the battle.
The Cougars began inching back into contention and later closed the gap to 45-37.
A miserable night from the free throw line (eight-of-19) fortunately kept Westland from getting much closer.
As time began to wind down, the Cougars were forced to foul MHS in order to stop the clock.
Barlow sank both ends of a one-and-one to push the Monarchs (who are 7-5 overall) out to a 49-40 advantage.
Charity tosses by Christian in the final 35.4 seconds gave Marysville (which will host Franklin Heights on Tuesday) its 13-point margin of victory.
Marysville
Taylor 10-0-21, Christian 5-4-17, E. Brown 2-1-6, Barlow 1-2-5, Duke 1-0-2, Focht 1-0-2, N. Brown 0-0-0. Totals 20-7-53.
Three-point goals: Christian 3, Taylor 1, E. Brown 1, Barlow 1.
Westland
Camara 4-2-11, D. Panning 3-0-8, E. Panning 2-2-7, Bogay 2-1-5, Webb 2-1-5, Evans 1-2-4, Ivory 0-0-0, Lay 0-0-0. Totals 14-8-40.
Three-point goals: D. Panning 2, Camara 1, E. Panning 1.
The Monarch jayvees won their game against the Cougars, 65-38.
Isaac Tocci led the Jr. Monarchs with 20 points and Nick Kessler tossed in 10.
Braden Deere’s 17 points led the MHS frosh to a 47-27 triumph over their Westland counterparts.
Garrett Taylor of Marysville scores over a Westland defender on Friday. Taylor tallied 21 points during the Monarchs’ 53-40 triumph. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)