Center Point-Urbana boys basketball team continues winning way, knocks off Marion

CENTER POINT - They kind of ran the gauntlet here in their last three boys basketball games.

The Center Point-Urbana Stormin’ Pointers faced in succession Solon, Mount Vernon and Marion. That latter opponent came Tuesday night.

Those are three really good teams, certainly the best in the Wamac Conference’s East Division. Make that among the best teams in the East.

CP-U beat them all, each by double figures. That included a 69-58 win here over Marion to increase its overall win streak to eight.

“It comes down to practice every day,” said Center Point-Urbana’s Kinnick Covington. “We just grind and just have to come into every game locked in, finish out the rest of the season that way ... I’d say, honestly, our team chemistry is good.”

That is obvious when you watch this team play. It gets down and plays good hard defense regularly, shares the ball offensively very well.

Marion (10-7, 8-5 in Wamac play) focused its defensive efforts on leading scorer Cooper Grimm (headed to play for Division III Wisconsin-Platteville), but he didn’t force anything, was content to help others get theirs. And they did: Covington tied him in team scoring honors with 13, one more point than guard Cayle Estling’s 12.

Coach Phillip Klett played nine guys Tuesday, and all of them contributed and scored. That’s getting something from everyone.

That’s a winning team, a 14-3 team that is 11-2 in the Wamac and ninth-ranked in Class 3A. Solon has just one loss in conference play.

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“I kind of expected it a little bit going into it. Yeah, I had a good game against them last time,” said Grimm, of Marion’s defensive strategy Tuesday. “I know we’ve got guys. I don’t need to be the one to score every game. So taking it when it’s there, obviously I’ll do that every time.”

It was a third-quarter surge that took Center Point-Urbana’s lead to double figures and over the top. These guys claim it wasn’t their best performance this season, but it was good enough.

“I’m trying to get them really focused on this: If our defense comes to play, we'll be in every game. The kids do a nice job,” Klett said. “I mean, obviously we still have things to work on and get better at being more consistent. But like tonight, I mean, the first half, we were just having a hard time getting things going offensively, but our defense got us some easy run outs and kind of got some separation there.

“Trying to push the kids about it. I mean, they're approachable, and they work hard and understand that. Like I think we played all nine kids and all nine helped out. So that happened last week with Mount Vernon or Solon or in whatever game it was. too. You know, if we are versatile like that, and all the guys are doing their role, I mean, we're tough to go.”

Jaryn Griffith and Tait Rahe each scored 15 points for Marion. Christian Stacey added 12.

That 72-46 steamroll of then unbeaten Solon last week was a huge deal for Center Point-Urbana. The Stormin’ Pointers are aiming for a top-eight ranking by the time the Iowa High School Athletic Association releases its Class 3A and 4A substate brackets in a couple of weeks.

The top eight will play home games throughout the entire substate tournament until they lose.

“We want the ‘1’ seed, obviously, so we’re going to go out there and hopefully win out the rest of the year and then hope that what’s we get,” Covington said.

Klett was asked about how much he brings that up to his team.

“Not very often,” he said. “Yeah, it gets brought up, from like teachers and other students. But we try not to think about it too much.

“Whatever. The result is we play whoever we play ... My thing is we just want to be playing well when the postseason begins.”

AT CENTER POINT

MARION (58): Tyler Farber 2-4 0-0 5, Brooks Coates 1-5 6-10 8, Christian Stacey 5-1 1-3 12, Tait Rahe 6-17 2-4 15, Jaryn Griffith 5-13 2-2 15, Calvin Andresen 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Kinney 1-2 0-0 3, Landon Tilkes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 11-19 58.

CENTER POINT-URBANA (69): Noah Estling 3-7 0-0 6, Cooper Grimm 6-11 1-1 13, Kinnick Covington 6-14 1-3 13, Cayle Estling 6-13 0-0 12, Lucas Lopata 2-4 7-8 11, Hayden Covington 1-3 0-0 2, Boden Kane 2-3 0-0 5, Henry Engelbrecht 1-4 0-0 2, Coltin Hildebrandt 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 29-61 9-12 69.

Halftime - Center Point-Urbana 34, Marion 29. 3-point goals - Marion 7-23 (Farber 1-3, Stacey 1-5, Rahe 1-6, Griffith 3-7, Andresen 0-1, Kinney 1-1), Center Point-Urbana 2-11 (N. Estling 0-1, Grimm 0-1, K. Covington 0-1, C. Estling 0-2, Lopata 0-1, H. Covington 0-1, Kane 1-2, Engelbrecht 0-1, Hildebrandt 1-1. Rebounds - Marion 34 (Coates 11), Center Point-Urbana 37 (C. Estling 9). Total fouls - Marion 13, Center Point-Urbana 12. Technical foul - H. Covington. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Marion 10, Center Point-Urbana 5.

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