Jacob Ranker of Marysville goes up for a jumper while a Delaware Hayes defender attempts to block the shot. Ranker tallied six points during the Monarchs’ 59-49 loss.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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The shots sometimes just don’t fall in the game of basketball.
That was the case on Tuesday for the Marysville Monarchs when they fell 59-49 to neighboring Delaware Hayes.
“At some point you have to make some open shots,” said MHS head coach Ryan Grose. “We didn’t make as many as we needed to and we let that effect the rest of our play.”
The shots did fall early for MHS. Marshall Francisco worked the ball down in the low post for eight points, while Jack Christian and Bodie Eberhart each tallied two buckets from the field.
The Monarchs struggled with keeping the Pacers in front them on defense as the visitors went for 13 points.
Jacob Ranker, though, buried a buzzer-beating three-pointer to put Marysville up 17-13 at the end of the first quarter.
MHS’ defense continued to struggle during the second set as Delaware took the lead.
Eberhart made a pair of trifectas as Marysville pulled to within 35-30 at the half.
“I thought we did a better job of getting the ball inside and they started to take that away,” said Grose. “That made it tougher for us to get it in there.”
MHS’ real woes came in the third quarter. The Monarchs struggled to get the ball inside, which forced them to look for an open shot from the perimeter.
Christian was the only Monarch to find some success with a three. The trifecta marked the only points they would collect.
Meanwhile, the Pacers kept the ball rolling as they stretched their lead to 47-33.
“The tough thing about basketball is you got to be able to do the other 90 percent of things that you are supposed to do besides shoot it,” said Grose. “It is harder when you are not making shots and we didn’t adapt as well as we needed to in the second half.”
The Monarchs rebounded a bit from their third quarter problems when they switched to a man-to-man defense.
That slowed the Pacers and opened up some transition opportunities.
“We wanted to get some help,” Grose said. “We put a bigger guy on one of their guards who we felt wasn’t a great outside shooter and that really helped.”
Christan and Jarret Karnes were able to get some deep balls to fall, while Phillip Hughes, Ranker and Francisco worked the paint for some putbacks.
However, the deficit was just too much to overcome as the Monarchs slipped to 8-12 on the season.
“At the end of the day, we still gave up some offensive rebounds and had too many breakdowns when we weren’t scoring to keep ourselves in it,” said Grose.
The Monarchs will return to the court on Friday when they travel to Hilliard Davidson for Ohio Capital Conference action.
Delaware Hayes
Kinsway 7-10-24, Harvey 3-1-8, Griggs 2-4-8, Lyles 3-1-7, Burris 2-0-5, Sumner 2-0-5, Smudz 1-0-2. Totals 20-16-59.
Three-point goals: Harvey 1, Burris 1, Sumner 1.
Marysville
Fransico 5-3-13, Eberhart 3-4-10, Christian 3-0-8, Ranker 2-1-6, Hughes 2-0-4, Colopy 1-0-3, Karnes 1-0-3, Schaeffer 1-0-2. Totals 18-8-49.
Three-point goals: Eberhart 2, Christian 2, Ranker 1, Colopy 1, Karnes 1.