Marion back to state after beating Benton

CEDAR RAPIDS - They do kind of get lost in the shuffle with the Linn-Mars and the Jeffersons and the Washingtons and the Kennedys. With the Paiges and the Oglesbys and the Uthoffs.

But these Marion Indians don't have to take redheaded-stepchild status from anyone when it comes to boys' basketball. They're headed to the state tournament - again.

“Yeah, I do kind of get disappointed every once in a while, looking in the paper and not finding an article or a picture in print,” said Marion's Dusty Albaugh after his 21 points helped his team to a 48-44 win over Benton Community in a Class 3A substate final last night at the U.S. Cellular Center. “But that happens. We're just going to keep doing what we do. If we don't get noticed, then so be it. We'll keep doing our thing and playing our game.”

That's a pretty good game. Marion (17-7) won the rubber match between these Wamac Conference rivals to qualify for state for the second time in three years.

It's top-seeded, top-ranked and unbeaten Waverly-Shell Rock (24-0) awaiting the Indians in a quarterfinal next Tuesday at 3:30. They'll be definitive underdogs, but that's OK.

They'll show up and see what happens.

“We'll get our tape on them, make sure our kids are ready to play, make sure they're focused,” said Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid. “I know they're big, I know they're athletic. We've got a tough task ahead of us. But I'll take these seven seniors and put them up against any team.”

Three of those seniors were part of Marion's 2009 state tournament team, and they played a huge role in last night's game, as you'd imagine. Particularly guards Dusty Albaugh and Kasey Semler, who accounted for 36 points.

Marion outscored Benton (16-8) in the decisive third quarter, 13-4, to take a 10-point lead it would never relinquish. All 13 points came from the big two.

Props, as well, to Tyler Fisher, that “other” state tourney veterans for another solid game that included a team-high seven rebounds.

“I couldn't be more proud of our guys,” said Semler, who finished with 15 points. “Defense, in particular, has been something we've been stressing lately, and we all came through tonight.”

Benton shot just 34 percent from the field, unable to get anything going consistently on offense. Leading scorer Zach Twedt was limited to 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting, important statistics, for sure.

AT U.S. CELLULAR CENTER

MARION (48): Dylan Cronk 1-4 0-0 2, Dan Van Gorp 2-5 2-4 6, Tyler Fisher 1-3 1-4 6, Dusty Albaugh 8-12 1-2 21, Kasey Semler 5-13 4-6 15, Mark Stone 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Hardman 0-0 0-0 0, Mitch Wagner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 8-16 48.

BENTON COMMUNITY (44): Zach Twedt 5-16 2-4 12, Ben Markland 5-10 0-0 11, Robert Rathje 2-5 1-2 5, Jake Stenberg 0-0 0-0 0, Mitch Lester 1-12 4-4 7, Brady Stramer 2-2 0-0 5, Jordan Kearns 1-2 2-2 4, Ben Thompson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 9-12 44.

Halftime - Marion 23, Benton Community 22. 3-point goals - Marion 5-12 (Albaugh 4-7, Semler 1-5), Benton Community 3-10 (Twedt 0-2, Markland 1-1, Lester 1-7, Stramer 1-1). Rebounds - Marion 32 (Fisher, Albaugh 7), Benton Community 26 (Twedt 7). Total fouls - Marion 14, Benton Community 18. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Marion 17, Benton Community 11.

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