Jake Christian of Marysville drives the lane while a Dublin Coffman defender attempts to block his shot. Christian led the Monarchs with 18 points during their 70-53 loss. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The Marysville boys basketball team had the chance Friday night to do something it hasn’t done in decades and that’s win an Ohio Capital Conference championship. The Monarchs had to get through Dublin Coffman to do so and the Rocks were too much of a task to handle as Marysville fell. 70-53.
It was the Monarchs’ first OCC Central Division loss in eight games.
MHS head coach Ryan Grose said his boys weren’t thinking about winning a title and were just focused on beating their rival.
“People can hype all that up, but we’ve still got a lot of games to play,” he said. “I don’t know that our concern was really that.”
The Monarchs beat the Shamrocks 80-78 back in December during their first meeting of the season.
Marysville’s second attempt at a victory looked to be heading in the same direction as the two teams matched each other shot-for-shot through the first eight minutes. MHS took a slim 13-12 lead over its conference foe by the end of the initial set.
The Monarchs controlled the tempo as Grose slowed the game to run some sets in the second quarter.
The style worked as Jack Christian was able to bury his second three of the night. Noah Brown provided some support from beyond the arc with a trey as well.
Garrett Taylor worked the ball in the post to add four points as MHS took a 31-29 lead into the turn.
Grose said when you get this deep into the season, there are not really any surprises.
“Certainly this time of the year everybody has seen everyone,” he said. “From a preparation standpoint, we know what they are doing, they know what we are doing, so it takes an unbelievable performance.”
That unbelievable performance came in the second half, but it came for the Shamrocks in the form of Keaton Turner.
He tallied 41 of Coffman’s 70 points with 12 coming in the third quarter.
Grose said he tried several different defenses to slow Turner down, but he was just unstoppable.
“We tried to take away angles,” Grose said. “If he was on one side of the floor, we tried to keep him there, but he is just a really good player.
“We were forcing good shots, but he was just making them and that is just the way it goes.”
The Monarchs struggled to find the bottom of the bucket in the third quarter. As a result, they found themselves trailing ,45-41, going into the final stanza.
Grose said a few mental mistakes made the difference in the end.
“We could have taken our one-point lead into the fourth quarter and a make a good decision,” he said. “However, we had a couple things go against us.
“Even at that point, it is only a four-point ball game.”
The four-point deficit turned into a 10-point gap, thanks to a 12-point run by Coffman.
Turner let the ball fly from beyond the arc, sinking three while notching 14 points.
Joey Duke and Ryan Barlow hit trifectas for MHS.
The writing, however, was on the wall for the Monarchs as Turner and the Rocks continued to widen their lead and hand the Monarchs their first OCC loss.
Even with 41 points, Grose thought his team played Turner tough.
“I thought we guarded him really hard,” he said. “It wasn’t like we left him open. He was just making contested shots and sometimes players just play out of their minds.”
Even with the loss, the Monarchs find themselves still in a two-way tie for first place with Coffman.
With two Central Division games – Upper Arlington and Hilliard Davidson – left, Marysville controls its own destiny.
Grose, though, doesn’t want the team to get ahead itself.
“From our standpoint we are back to work on Sunday,” he said. “We’ve got a huge game at Big Walnut on Tuesday.
“We still control our own destiny in the league, but we are going to focus on Big Walnut.”
Marysville now has a 10-7 overall record.
Dublin Coffman
Turner 13-8-41, Hains 6-2-14, Hostetler 5-0-13 Headings 1-0-2, VanVleratt 0-0-0. Totals 25-10-70.
Three-point goals: Turner 7, Hostetler 3
Marysville
Christian 4-8-18, Duke 4-0-9, Taylor 4-0-8, Schaeffer 3-0-6, Barlow 2-0-5, N. Brown 2-0-5, E. Brown 1-0-2. Totals 20-8-53.
Three-point goals: Christian 2, Duke 1, Barlow 1, N.Brown 1