Marion doesn't let this one get away

MARION - Not again.“That wasn't really in my head,” said Marion's Kasey Semler, following his team's 57-53 win Tuesday night over Clear Creek-Amana. "It was just we can't lose this game.”The Indians didn't, jumping into first place alone in the Wamac Conference's West Division with a comeback win in a couple of ways. Dylan Cronk's three-point play off an offensive rebound took Marion (8-4) from two down to one ahead in the final two minutes, and it never trailed again.Then there was the comeback from the comeback, if you will. The Indians blew a 21-point lead in losing their previous game last Friday to Vinton-Shellsburg and gave up an 11-point lead last night.“We gave up a 21-point lead,” said Marion's Dusty Albaugh. “That was one of those games that just make you cringe.”This one made them smile.“It's one you've got to have right away,” said Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid. “You have a quality opponent coming in right away, you can't slough around at all.”Marion is 7-2 in the Wamac West to Williamsburg's 7-3. Vinton-Shellsburg is 6-3, as is Benton Community.That's parity."That's the way our side (of the conference) is,” Manderscheid said. “Obviously, that's been proven already. Any team can beat any team. This was a good one for us to have. It was a tight ballgame, a good ballgame to win.”“This was big to not let it slip away,” said Semler.Marion had a 27-19 halftime lead, but CCA's guard tandem of Nile Eckermann and Clay Miller started getting hot in the second half, leading the Clippers' comeback. Shooter Miller had a game-high 20 points and Eckermann added 15 on an array of drives to the hoop.CCA (7-7, 5-4) had a 53-51 lead late, with Cronk gathering in a Semler miss and converting the biggest three-point play of the game.Miller had a long 3-point attempt to tie in the final 10 seconds that missed short off the front rim. Semler finished with 16 points for Marion, with Albaugh adding 13.Here is the game boxscore:

AT MARION

CLEAR CREEK-AMANA (53): Zach Manders 0-0 2-2 2, Clay Miller 8-20 2-2 20, Nile Eckermann 5-11 4-4 15, Zach Volk 0-0 0-0 0, Nash Stopko 1-2 3-4 5, Dillon Villhauer 0-1 0-0 0, Hunter Stokes 5-8 1-2 11, Evan Hergert 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 12-14 53.

MARION (57): Dusty Albaugh 5-12 0-0 13, Cale Cannoy 1-4 0-0 3, Dylan Cronk 3-4 1-1 7, Kasey Semler 5-18 6-9 16, Dan Van Gorp 1-2 0-0 2, Tre Kinney 2-6 1-2 5, Tyler Fisher 2-4 1-4 5, Austin Hardman 1-2 2-2 4, Mark Stone 1-1 0-0 2, Isaac Frazier 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 11-18 57.

Halftime - Marion 27, Clear Creek-Amana 19.

3-point goals - CCA 3-13 (Miller 2-8, Eckermann 1-5), Marion 4-16 (Albaugh 3-8, Cannoy 1-2, Semler 0-3, Kinney 0-2, Fisher 0-1).

Rebounds - CCA 23 (Manders, Stopko, Stokes 4), Marion 34 (Van Gorp, Albaugh 6).

Total fouls - CCA 12, Marion 13.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - CCA 12, Marion 11.