Marion pulls away from Mount Pleasant in boys’ basketball substate semifinals

CENTER POINT — Friday night’s Class 3A boys’ basketball substate semifinal contest between the Marion Wolves and Mount Pleasant Panthers was everything you could want in a high school basketball game.

At the end of the 32-minute fixture, it was Marion with its state tournament goal still in reach. The Wolves stunted the Panthers, 60-44.

For two quarters of play in was anyone’s ballgame, but with a big third quarter and just enough in the fourth, the Wolves were able to put the Panthers away.

The nerves were high for both teams in the first quarter as it took over two minutes for the first bucket to be scored, a Marion two. Then it was on.

Mount Pleasant was scorching hot for the next three minutes on the offensive end, rattling off an 11-4 run to make it a 11-6 ballgame. Nine of the 11 came from the hands of forward Dewon Trent.

Marion’s deficit was short-lived as the Wolves found their rhythm, ending the quarter with a run of their own, 10-3. Marion never trailed again.

Mount Pleasant found itself down just two, 25-23, in the second with a chance to tie it at the line with a one-and-one.

The free throw was off the mark and Marion’s Brayson Laube knew exactly what to do. Laube got the ball under the rim with one tick on the clock and drew contact, earning a pair at the stripe. The junior guard didn’t disappoint, connecting on both and giving the Wolves a 27-23 advantage at the break. The Panthers never got closer.

Laube was huge for Marion in the first half, dropping in 13 of his eventual game-high 20 points.

Marion found its stride in the second half, particularly in the third quarter. The Wolves held the Panthers to just nine points, while pouring in 19 of their own, accumulating a 46-32 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

“We made some minor adjustments,” Marion head coach Pete Messerli said. “It was about getting comfortable with Mount Pleasant’s defense. They were doing some things that we really haven’t seen throughout our conference play.”

Marion capped the victory with a 14-12 fourth quarter to punch its ticket to Monday’s substate final.

Accompanying Laube in the scoring column was Boede Rahe, Alex Mota, and Calen Claypool all with eight apiece.

Dewson Trent led the Panthers with 14 points.

The Wolves will have to go through Clear Creek-Amana, a team they got the better of once alread this season. Marion defeated the Clippers 77-61 on Feb. 2.

The Clippers knocked off No. 8 Fort Madison on Friday, 66-60.

“We’re going to focus on ourselves,” Messerli said. “We’ll look at Clear Creek and see what they’ve been doing as of late. They’ve got some really dynamic players and a lot of good athletes. We will see how we can attack that.”