Staff writer
It was a game of momentum Thursday night between Marion and Canton-Galva, the Warriors creating and losing a 17-point lead before taking final control in the fourth quarter.
“It was a crazy turn of events,” head coach Jeff McMillin said. “We dominated the first quarter, then they dominated to get back in the game, actually took a lead.”
Marion started hot. After an early Eagle score, the Warriors rattled off 10 points en route to a 22-5 run to end the first quarter.
Zach Robson scored 16 of Marion’s first-quarter points, making four 3-pointers. Robson would finish the game with 26 points, shooting 9-of-17 from the field and 6-of-9 from three.
“In practice, they say they’re ‘wet’ if they hit a shot,” McMillin said with a laugh. “They were saying they didn’t know if he was sweating or if it was just straight water.”
Despite a 24-7 deficit though, Canton-Galva did not give up on a comeback. The Eagles scored 22 points in the second quarter, at one point making four threes and a driving three-point play to bring the score within one at 27-26. A floater from Tim Knolla and threes from Robson and Taylor Heidebrecht kept the Warrior lead at six, 35-29 at halftime.
The Eagles came out of the break outscoring Marion 9-4 to take a one-point, 40-39 lead with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left in the quarter. The teams exchanged the lead twice until a Robson layup in the last seconds of the quarter gave the Warriors a permanent lead.
Marion began the fourth quarter scoring 12 unanswered points and taking a 55-42 lead, then cruised to a 61-49 victory.
“Maybe when these guys were younger or less experienced, we wouldn’t know that the game has those ebbs and flows,” McMillin said. “When those things happen, you can’t get too overly excited about it.”
The Warriors are now on break for the holidays, but will return to action at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 in Hillsboro.