Centre Warren Chase Lepardus attacks the basket between Marietta’s Owen Riley and Zaiden Whittekind in the district quarterfinal match at the Warrior Coliseum on Friday. (Photo: Mike Morrison)
Vincent – With nine seniors on the roster, the Warren Warriors have played in rather large basketball games over the past four years.
That experience paid a big dividend Friday night as the Warriors beat the Marietta Tigers 64-45 in the Division III quarterfinals at Warren High School.
The Warriors fought from a 7-point first-quarter deficit, taking a two-point lead at halftime, opening the second half with a 16-1 run and defeating things.
Warren’s victory was second in three tries this season against the Tigers and 16th overall.
“This team is resilient, they’re smart and they don’t make everything perfect, but they try to make the most of their abilities.” said Brain Maddox, the warrior head coach whose team has been undefeated at the Warrior Coliseum this season. “It was a great team victory and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Warren’s Julian Stardelman (00) is standing up for the jumper as Marietta’s Lucas Miller during his district quarterfinal match at the Warrior Coliseum on Friday. (Photo: Mike Morrison)
With a pack packed with the Coliseum, MHS junior Trey Hawkins showed no signs of early game jitter as he scored the Tigers’ first nine points.
Later in the opening quarter, Tiger Junior Zaiden Whittekind knocked down the three that gave Marietta a 14-7 lead, with warrior senior Julian Stadelman answering with a pair of free throws.
Stardelman scored again in possession of the next warrior, and Warren came up with a big play to close the opening period thanks to the incredible plays that the Warren Senior trio, who joined the game from the bench.
In just a few seconds, Colin Anthony stole and fired the ball on Tyson Cochran on the court. For the first quarter.
Maddox felt that the quality he was given to him from his bench was a major key to the Warriors’ success this season.
Marietta’s Braden Jones (3) will go up for a shot as Warren’s Jacob Seeley (21) defends during the district quarterfinal match at the Warrior Coliseum on Friday. (Photo: Mike Morrison)
“The bench came in and when we were seven, it gave us a great spark.” Maddox said. “Colin (Anthony) and (Tyson) Cochrane, AJ (CRISS) and (Nick) Cressy are all big parts of what we do.”
Wittekind opened the Tigers second quarter with canned jumpers, but blew hists for a technical foul of Taunting, which brought Stadelman back to the line for a pair of giveaways.
Stadelman converted both and knocked down what would become the only triple of the game to give the Warriors the first lead of the game, 18-17, to add humiliation to the injury.
Braiden Plaugher responded with a triple from Marietta, and the two rivals swapped the lead back and forth before the Warriors were able to ultimately score a 27-25 lead.
In Maddox’s long career as Warren’s headman, his team is known for adjusting at halftime and coming out strong in the third quarter, attacking early and frequently in the third quarter. That’s again.
The bucket by Warren’s senior big man Chase Le Pardus started things for the home team, and after Owen Riley made the two on the Tigers’ charity stripe, the Warriors scored the next 14 points and were able to do things It blows away a lot.
Stadelman’s bucket extended the lead to five, with warrior seniors Jacob Sealey and Connor Barry both ring the bells from long distances, giving the Warriors their first double-digit lead to the game.
Lepardus added a lonely point to the charity stripe, and after Stardelman changed his old-fashioned three-point play, Lepardus scored a low score again with Anthony’s assist, giving the Warriors a 17-point lead.
Hawkins finally stopped the bleeding by driving two in the basket, but the Tigers couldn’t trim from the warrior’s lead any more, chasing 17 people towards the final quarter.
Marietta managed to get a lead of just nine in the final quarter, but couldn’t bring the rest closer.
The Warriors spent a lot of time on the free throw line in the final quarter. The final 12 points of the game came on the line.
Warren attempted a 24-33 free throw in the game, but the Tigers didn’t help their cause at all by making just two-fifths out of the stripe.
Stadelman, the highest scorer ever in Warrior history, finished the game with 24 points, including 11/11 of the foul line.
Lupardus completed a double double with 17 points and 10 boards.
“Chase is amazing how he can score at that size.” Maddox said. “Coach (Jerry) Mitchem does an incredible job working with post players.
Warren (21-2) will make it to the district semi-finals against undefeated Miami Race at Logan High School on Tuesday night.
“We have to go and try to kill another dragon, another undefeated team.” Maddox, who matches up with Miami Race, said. “We have three so far and look forward to the challenge of trying to get number four.”
Maddox appreciates the Tigers and knows they will be a force to be considered over the next few seasons.
“Marietta’s achievements, what a great season they were and what a great group they were back.” Maddox said. “They competed hard as usual and what great programs they put together?”
The Tigers were led by Hawkins with 21 points, but Riley vested for a nine, including a pair across the arc.
Marietta’s head coach Austin Gardner felt like his team had left all the teams on the floor, led by Hawkins, who donated tons tons to each end of the court.
“Trey started to get really hot for us to get to the basket and he’s also our best on-ball defender.” said Hawkins’ Gardner. “We’ve asked a lot from him, but he always faced the challenges and he played an incredible game.”
The third-year head coach Marietta felt that things seemed a little different for the Tigers if senior junior bases were available to play the second half of the season.
“It’s hard to be short of people without your best players. That was Warren’s decision earlier this year.” Bass Gardner said. “He’s not able to play a full season because one individual is tough, so he’s going to have the opportunity to play college ball.”
Bass, who lived in the local Warren school district but played for Belpre High School for his first three seasons, moved to Marietta this year, but was not eligible to play later in the season due to transfer rules.
The game was also the last of Seth Britton and Charles Merrill, three other Tiger Seniors, and Braden Jones. -Battel.
“It’s been a blessing to coach these guys over the past three years. Braden Jones is the best shooter I’ve coached, the hardest working kids, and Seth Britton is what we have. He is one of the most instructable and best IQ people. Gardner said. “Charlie Merrill started coming out a few hours before the tryout and he gave us everything he could.”
The Tigers’ season is coming to an end with the 17-5 mark as they continue to change the culture of Marietta’s basketball.
“32 minutes doesn’t define these people’s seasons or their careers.” Gardner said. “They got Tiger basketball where it wasn’t for a long time. They.”
