Bodie Eberhart of Marysville takes the ball to the basket against Bishop Watterson Saturday evening. Eberhart scored 22 points as the Monarchs won, 69-60.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Saturday evening’s boys basketball game between the Marysville Monarchs and the Eagles from Columbus Bishop Watterson featured a pair of different offensive styles.
The Monarchs like to quickly move the ball up and down the floor.
The Eagles, on the other hand, are more methodical in their approach.
“We knew that Watterson is a physical, half-court team,” said MHS coach Ryan Grose, after his squad’s 69-60 non-conference victory. “We wanted to speed them up and I thought we did a good job of executing that game plan.”
It was evident from the start that the Eagles wanted to slow down the Monarchs’ offense. They began with a 3-2 zone that did a good job of closing down passing and driving lanes, preventing MHS from really getting into its up tempo style.
That strategy, however, went out the window when the Monarchs (5-3) began busting trifectas.
“We had a couple of guys (Bodie Eberhart and Jack Christian) who got hot early,” said Grose. “We executed some sets for them.”
Marysville jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the game without the benefit of the three-point stripe.
The Eagles, however, went on an 8-0 run and forced Grose to call a timeout.
Eberhart buried a three-pointer to give the Monarchs an 11-10 lead.
Christian later followed suit with a three-ball that sent MHS into the second quarter with a 14-12 edge.
Watterson’s Jimmy Patton tied the game at 14 before Christian drilled one of his five trifectas over the Eagles’ defense.
The Monarchs’ keen eye from beyond the arc forced Watterson to abandon the zone in favor of a man-to-man.
That was a defense Marysville was able to exploit as the contest progressed.
Garrett Taylor came off the bench for the first of his three field goals as MHS stretched its lead to 19-14.
Chris Crane sank a three-ball to pull Watterson to within two before Eberhart tallied two of his 22 markers for a four-point margin.
Taylor scored on the low block and Eberhart spun away from an opponent for a shot that gave the Monarchs (who will travel to Upper Arlington on Friday) a little breathing room at 25-17.
Baskets from Crane, Davis Boone and Patton, however, narrowed the pesky Eagles’ deficit to 25-23 with 90 seconds left until the turn.
Eberhart put a little distance between the combatants with a three-ball, while Christian’s assist to Taylor gave the Monarchs a 30-25 lead at the half.
An MHS turnover to begin the third quarter led to Stephen Garrett’s bucket that whittled the score to 30-27.
Christian went to work with a pair of trifectas, while Phil Hughes scored in the low post.
All of a sudden, Marysville had climbed to a 38-27 lead.
Zach Sawyer halted MHS’s quick run with a basket.
Christian sank one free throw to push Marysville out to a 39-29 advantage.
Hughes stepped up big over the next several minutes.
He scored on a bounce entry pass from Joey Duke, swatted away a shot on the other end of the floor and hit another basket as the Monarchs’ margin climbed to 43-31.
Buckets from Drew Davis and Sawyer narrowed the gap to 43-35.
The Monarchs might have put a little more distance between themselves and the Eagles, but couldn’t connect on some free throws.
Spencer Mills later drove across the lane for a shot that gave MHS a 46-35 advantage.
The Eagles cut into their double-digit deficit on an old-school three-point play.
Christian, though, scored two of his 22 points and sent Marysville into the fourth period with a 48-38 lead.
Sawyer opened the fourth quarter with a basket.
Hughes, though, stepped out beyond the arc and tripled home part of his 13 points (to go with 12 rebounds and a trio of blocks).
The Eagles, however, were not going to wave the white flag, even if they had to play at a faster pace than accustomed.
A pair of charity tosses from Sawyer and a couple of baskets by Boone closed the gap to 51-46 two minutes into the fourth quarter.
Christian cashed in on a rare four-point play when he was fouled while swishing a three-pointer.
His free throw raised the Monarchs’ lead to 55-36.
Boone, though, led the Eagles’ offense on a mini run that pulled the visitors to within 57-53 with a little under four minutes left to play.
Things got even more interesting at the 3:15 mark when Sawyer’s bucket narrowed the spread to 58-55.
Eberhart hit a basket and then assisted on an inbounds play to Gabe Schaeffer for a 62-55 lead.
At that point, the Monarchs began using the clock and forcing the Eagles to foul.
Marysville didn’t hit on all of its charity tosses down the stretch (while going nine-of-21 for the game). However, a bucket from Eberhart padded the lead at 65-57.
Christian, Eberhart and Hughes did hit free throws in the final half-minute to keep the Eagles at bay.
Marysville
Eberhart 9-2-22, Christian 7-3-22, Hughes 5-2-13, Taylor 3-0-6, Schaeffer 1-1-3, Mills 1-0-2, Siefring 0-1-1, Duke 0-0-0, Brown 0-0-0. Totals 26-9-69.
Three-point goals: Christian 5, Eberhart 2, Hughes 1.
Bishop Watterson
Sawyer 7-6-20, Boone 6-2-14, Patton 5-3-13, Crane 3-0-7, Davis 2-0-4, Garrett 1-0-2, Rhomberg 0-0-0, Bruzzese 0-0-0. Totals 24-11-60.
Three-point goal: Crane 1.
Marysville’s freshmen beat Watterson, 44-31, to begin the triple-header.
Josh Lim led the frosh with 10 points.
The MHS jayvees fell, 60-56.
Riley Karnes led the Jr. Monarchs with 17 points, while Trenton Siefring scored 11 and Ryan Barlow added 10.