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- Marietta’s Trey Hawkins (3) places up a shot as Warren’s Shawn Adams (12) and Blake Grimes defend throughout Tuesday’s match sport at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
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- Warren’s Caleb Tullius assaults the basket throughout Tuesday’s match sport in opposition to Marietta at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
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- Marietta’s Graesyn Moat (11) goes up for a shot as Warren’s Liam Grosselin (4) defends throughout Tuesday’s match sport at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
Marietta’s Trey Hawkins (3) places up a shot as Warren’s Shawn Adams (12) and Blake Grimes defend throughout Tuesday’s match sport at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
MARIETTA — Beating any staff 3 times in the identical season is sort of a problem, not to mention your arch rival.
The No. 4 seeded Marietta Tigers accomplished the season sweep Tuesday night time with a tough fought 66-60 win over the No. 5-seed Warren Warriors at Sutton Gymnasium in an OHSAA Division III, District Quarterfinal.
The heavily-favored Tigers really trailed on the finish of the third quarter however discovered a option to get the job executed led by an enormous second half by senior Trey Hawkins.
“It was a tough game and I’m glad the fans enjoyed because I’m not sure the coaches did,” joked a relieved Tiger head coach Austin Gardner. “Great teams find a way to win and we’ve been in that position quite a bit this year. There was no panic, just a sense of urgency. I’m super proud of our guys for getting it done.”
The Tigers have a complete host of excellent shooters on their roster however merely couldn’t money in from lengthy distance early on as they missed their first 10 pictures from behind the arc.
Warren’s Caleb Tullius assaults the basket throughout Tuesday’s match sport in opposition to Marietta at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
As ice chilly because the Tigers had been early on, the Warriors had been red-hot as they knocked down 8-of-9 pictures from behind the arc within the opening half.
Perhaps saving the Tigers early on was their means to pressure turnovers on protection.
After the Warriors jumped out to a 4-2 lead, the Tigers received consecutive steals and buckets in transition by Hawkins, Lucas Miller and Zaiden Wittekind with the latter ending with a two-handed dunk.
The Warriors rapidly answered with three-pointers by Caleb Tullius, Shawn Adams and Liam Grosselin to open up a five-point lead of their very own.
Shot No. 11 proved to be the fortunate one for the Tigers as freshman Graesyn Moat canned a triple and Hawkins closed out the quarter with one other one to tie the sport at 16-16.
Marietta’s Graesyn Moat (11) goes up for a shot as Warren’s Liam Grosselin (4) defends throughout Tuesday’s match sport at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
Both groups had no hassle placing the ball within the bucket within the second quarter as they performed to a 23-23 tie to maintain the rating knotted at 39-39 on the break.
Warren sophomore Jackson Perdue, recovering from an harm and taking part in his first sport in a couple of weeks, supplied the Warriors with a spark within the second quarter by tossing in seven factors off of the bench whereas Tiger junior Trenton McVey did the identical for his staff by scoring eight.
Midway by the third quarter the Warriors received back-to-back buckets by Tullius to open up a three-point lead earlier than the Tigers received an enormous play by Moat on each ends of the court docket.
The freshman blocked a Warrior shot on the defensive finish after which ended up cashing in on the opposite finish off of an help from Hawkins to chop the result in one.
As they might for a lot of the sport, the Warriors had a solution as Perdue related from behind the arc.
After McVey knocked down his second three-pointer of the sport for the Tigers, Perdue closed out the third quarter with an old style three-point play to offer the Warriors a 54-50 lead into the ultimate quarter.
The Warriors tried to take the air out of the ball within the closing quarter and had been in a position to take nearly two minutes off of the clock earlier than Hawkins got here up with a steal and was fouled on the opposite finish.
Hawkins made each free throws to chop the result in two.
After Warren got here up empty on their subsequent possession the Tigers had an opportunity to tie however Perdue got here up with a steal solely to have Wittekind catch him from behind and provide you with an enormous blocked shot.
Owen Riley was fouled on the Tigers subsequent possession and transformed one-of-two on the foul line earlier than Blake Grimes grabbed an offensive board and put it again in to push the lead again to 56-53 with 4 minutes to play.
After battling their perimeter taking pictures for a lot of the night time, the Tigers put the ball into Hawkins’ palms and the senior put strain on the Warren protection by driving robust to the bucket.
Hawkins drew fouls on consecutive Marietta possessions and made all 4 free throws to place the Tigers in entrance by some extent with two-and-a-half minutes to play.
On the subsequent Tiger possession, Hawkins as soon as once more drove to the bucket, solely this time he kicked it out to Moat who knocked down an enormous three-pointer to offer the Tigers a 60-56 lead.
“We had some guys that didn’t have their best nights and Graesyn Moat for a freshman came up big time,” mentioned Hawkins. “Our guys trust him and he plays like a senior and he gets coached like one too.”
The Warriors weren’t able to go down fairly but as they answered with back-to-back buckets by Perdue to tie issues up as soon as once more at 60-60 with lower than two minutes to play.
Hawkins was fouled once more and made the primary of his two free throws. He missed the second, Wittekind got here up with an enormous offensive board.
Wittekind was additionally fouled and made one-of-two on the charity stripe, extending the result in two.
The Warriors missed a three-pointer and as soon as once more Wittekind got here up with the rebound.
The Tiger senior made one-of two freebies earlier than Hawkins got here up with an enormous steal on the opposite finish to remove the Warriors’ shot at a three-pointer to doubtlessly tie the sport.
Hawkins completed issues off on the foul-line, making three-out-of 4 within the closing seconds to safe the hard-fought win for the Tigers.
“It took staying together as a team and never giving up,” mentioned Hawkins of the win. “We just had to stay patient and stay together and we did.”
On an evening the place the Tigers’ main scorers Riley and Wittekind had been restricted to simply 11 factors between them, Hawkins got here up big by tossing in a game-high 23 factors whereas additionally developing with 4 steals and three assists.
“Trey (Hawkins) has went through a lot missing seven games this year and has spent a ton of time working in the gym improving his game,” mentioned Gardner. “He was a huge help tonight offensively and defensively and ran the show for us. He was the man tonight.”
The Tigers received 26 factors off of their bench, with Moat ending with 15 and McVey with 11.
Perdue led the Warriors with 19 factors whereas Tullius added 15.
Warren completed the sport taking pictures a blistering 67 % from behind the arc (10-15) however nonetheless got here up brief.
Warrior head coach Blane Maddox was extraordinarily happy with his staff’s efforts and the development they constituted of the start of the season to the top.
“Our guys played their butts off and I’m so proud of them,” mentioned Maddox, whose staff eradicated the Tigers a season in the past. “Maybe a couple more buckets and a couple of more rebounds and a couple of less turnovers and we’d be going to The Convo, but we gave it our all against a very, very good basketball team on their home court.”
The Warriors season involves an in depth with a 12-11 mark.
“They (Marietta) have so many options and the freshman (Moat) stepped in there and hit some big shots and Hawkins just played outstanding,” mentioned Maddox. “Everybody thought we were going to get drilled but I didn’t believe that and the kids didn’t believe that. We came in here to win and almost did.”
The Tigers (19-4) will now transfer onto the Convocation Center in Athens Friday night time at 6:15 p.m. to tackle top-seeded Miami Trace, the staff that eradicated Warren a season in the past.
“Our goal has been to get to The Convo since the start of the year and now we’ve got that done,” mentioned Hawkins. “We are going to play a great team and it’s going to be a battle, but we are going to be ready.”