Marion upsets No. 3 Cedar Rapids Xavier

MARION — Marion's Tait Rahe was summoned from the locker room to the chants of "Hollywood" from his teammates.

To say the 6-foot-5 junior put on a show in the second half of Saturday's non-conference boys basketball game with visiting No. 3 Cedar Rapids Xavier would be an understatement.

And he had a co-star in senior Christian Stacy.

Rahe converted a key four-point play midway through the fourth quarter and Stacy, a 6-1 senior, put the game away late, scoring 14 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Wolves pulled away late to upset the Saints, 74-60.

Why "Hollywood"?

"That's what I do," Rahe said with a big smile on his face talking about his ability to make a big play. "I just give credit to all my teammates. They got me open and got me the ball."

Rahe, who finished with 21, pushed the Marion lead to 56-49 after hitting a three and a free throw after getting fouled on the shot. From that point on, it was Rahe and Stacy in control as the Saints, who had both starting guards Zander Murray and Lorenzo Pino miss big amounts of the second half with foul trouble, could never get any closer the rest of the way.

"Those guys are both dynamic," said Marion head coach Pete Messerli. "It's good when you can have guys out there who can go get a bucket for the team. We had a really good fourth quarter last night at Williamsburg and obviously to beat a good team like Xavier, you have to be able to close strong and we did that again today."

The Saints (7-3) got good production from both Pino and Murray when they were on the floor. Murray finished with 16 points and Pino had 14 before both eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter.

"Our coaches did a really good job of setting up plays to attack them," Rahe said. "They knew they were in four trouble and we wanted to go right at them. They are a great team and it is an awesome feeling to be able to knock them off."

For Marion (6-3), the schedule does not get any easier. The next three games for the Wolves are against unbeaten Solon on Tuesday, Mount Vernon (8-1) and Center Point-Urbana (7-3).

“We will have our hands full,” Messerli said of his team, now on a six-game win streak after opening 0-3.“This team is still building and a game like today showed what we are capable of accomplishing the rest of the way.

AJ Evans led Xavier with 17 points. Brooks Coates added 11 for Marion.