Marion clinches No. 2 seed with 2OT victory
MARION 62, VALLEY VIEW 52, 2OT
MARION — The Marion Patriots clinched the No. 2 playoff seed from the 5A-East on Friday night by outlasting league rival Valley View 62-52 in double overtime at Fidelity Bank Arena.
Marion pulled away from Valley View by limiting the Blazers to just two free throws in the second overtime period and harassing the visitors into missing all five field goals in that frame.
“Man, I’m just proud of all the guys on our team right now,” first-year Marion Coach Emmanuel Wade said. “We had a bunch of guys step up and do what needed to be done, no matter what that was. I think eight or nine guys made at least one huge play tonight.”
Marion (19-4, 12-2 5A-East) rode a team-high 18 points and seven assists from junior guard Lyndell Buckingham, while senior forward Jalen White scored 16 points with 17 rebounds, and junior Mikell Lewis scored 17 points with nine boards.
Valley View fell to 19-10 overall and 11-3 in the 5A-East despite getting 20 points from Gavin Ellis, 13 from Oliver Barr and eight from Laird Cullen.
Marion scored the first three points of the second overtime when senior guard Ronnie Townsend Jr. made a jump shot from the corner, and White split a pair of free throws on the next Marion possession.
Ellis split a pair of his own free throws with 2:49 left in the second overtime, when White scored in the paint before Buckingham came up with a steal in the Valley View backcourt and turned it into offense when he threw down a slam dunk for a 57-51 advantage with 1:57 remaining.
A David Brewer three-pointer pushed the Patriots in front 60-51 with 1:09 left in the game, and Lewis and White combined to make 2 of 4 free throws down the stretch to give Marion the appropriate cushion.
“We played really tough in the overtimes,” Wade said. “We had guys in foul trouble all night, but we didn’t let it deter us. We kept pushing and made play after play.”
Marion hit Valley View with an 8-0 run in the middle of the first quarter, starting when Brewer hit a three-pointer and Bucking- ham came up with a steal and layup. White added an exclamation point on the spurt when he converted a three-point play with 2:10 left for an 8-3 lead, and Marion enjoyed an 8-5 advantage after a quarter.
A Lewis three-pointer gave Marion a 13-7 lead with 6:22 left in the second, but the Blazers pushed back when Josh Burnett hit a layup, followed by three-pointers from Cullen and Barr for a 15-13 lead. The Blazers took an 1817 lead to the halftime lockers.
Another Lewis three-pointer gave Marion a 30-27 lead with 1:52 left in the third, and he turned a Buckingham pass into a layup with 30.4 seconds left that was good for a 32-28 Patriot lead after three quarters.
Valley View got back into it in the fourth quarter when Ellis scored 11 points, and the Blazer lead was 40-36 following a Burnett free throw with 3:37 remaining.
From there, White scored three points, and Brewer gave Marion a 42-41 lead on a putback with 15.4 seconds remaining.
Barr split a pair of free throws to force overtime.
The lead changed hands seven times in the first overtime, including with 46.1 seconds left after Ellis’s second three-pointer in the period.
Lewis got into the paint and finished a layup to tie the game at 50 with 29.1 seconds left to force a second extra period.
“Man, I’m just proud of all the guys on our team right now. We had a bunch of guys step up and do what needed to be done, no matter what that was. I think eight or nine guys made at least one huge play tonight.”
First-year Marion Coach Emmanuel Wade after Friday’s victory over Valley View
GIRLS MARION 55, VALLEY VIEW 27
MARION — Marion overcame a slow start to beat Valley View on Friday night at Fidelity Bank Arena.
Marion (16-10, 9-5 5A East) senior guard Ny’Asia Jackson netted a gamehigh 16 points, and she joined the school’s 1,000-point club during the third quarter. Jada Cheers scored 11 points and Madison Glaspie added nine.
Valley View finishes its season 11-17 overall and 3-11 in the 5A East despite getting 10 points from Annika Wilbanks and eight from Bella Seeman.
Seeman scored five points in the first quarter, including a short jumper to give the Lady Blazers a 7-2 lead with 4:45 left in the first.
That’s when Marion embarked on a 9-0 run, capped off by a Glaspie steal and layup for an 11-7 lead, and the hosts led 11-8 after a quarter.
Marion scored the first 13 points of the second quarter to take control of the game, taking a 24-8 lead after a Cheers three-pointer, and Marion led 27-14 at halftime.
The Lady Patriots scored the first 16 points of the third quarter to pull away, and Marion took a 49-19 lead with 1:11 left in the third on a Jackson layup. The hosts nursed a 52-21 lead entering the fourth quarter, which enacted the sportsmanship rule.