By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MARIONVILLE — Marionville senior Blane Young missed the past two days of school with an illness, but he was feeling a bit better on Friday.
Especially after the final horn sounded.
Young led all scorers with 25 points and three of his teammates finished in double-figures as the Comets extended their torrid start to the season with a 75-71 overtime victory over Sparta.
Marionville improved to 7-0, its best start since winning 11 straight to open the 2016-17 season.
“It’s a good win,” Young said. “I hope for a lot more.”
It was the second 20-point outing of the week for the senior, who scored 21 in a blowout victory over Clever on Tuesday night — while feeling under the weather.
Young stayed at home on Wednesday and Thursday while recovering and resting up for what was arguably Marionville’s biggest game of the young season.
The Comets welcomed from a red-hot Sparta team that was searching for its third consecutive win over a previously unbeaten opponent. The Trojans dethroned defending Class 2 champion Norwood last Friday and knocked off state-ranked Ash Grove on Tuesday.
Friday’s matchup was also Marionville’s homecoming game, which begs an important question.
Was there anything that would have kept Young out of the lineup?
“No way,” Young said. “I’ve played a bunch with these guys. This was a big game for us.”
It wound up not being an issue, as Young said he didn’t have “anything like that” on Friday.
“Showed up today, felt better,” Marionville coach Rob Guerin added. “Probably still not 100 percent, but he’s still out here working.”
That’s in stark contrast to Young’s itinerary during the past two days.
“Lots of rest,” Young recalled. “Lots of rest. Got a couple of shots up, but really lots of rest.”
That left Young with plenty of energy for overtime, which was needed after Sparta junior Walker Loveland hit a game-tying shot in the closing seconds to force the extra period.
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Young scored seven of Marionville’s 12 overtime points, with freshman Bryer Guerin netting the other five. Bryer Guerin and Gage Guerin each finished with 11 points, while Wil Carlton added 17.
The diversity in the team’s offense makes the Comets a particularly tough opponent.
“We’re just really good when we pass the ball,” Young said. “We share the ball and we get the best shot possible.”
That allowed Marionville to rally back after trailing by as many as nine points in the first half.
Young scored to cap off an 11-2 run that closed the deficit to two points just before halftime, but Sparta responded with a buzzer-beating three to go ahead 37-32 at the break.
“Early, we weren’t taking the right shots,” Rob Guerin said. “We were taking the right shots part of the time, they just weren’t falling. We were out of rhythm a little bit – their defense did that to us. We settled in and then we started taking the right shots. We were able to chip away a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time and adjusted our defense a little bit at halftime and really made a big difference.”
The adjustments set up a wild, back-and-forth third quarter that saw six lead changes and two ties in less than six minutes, but ended with Marionville trailing 56-54.
The Comets opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 61-58 lead, though Sparta overcame several late turnovers to rally and tie the game at 63-63.
Marionville was not deterred.
“This group doesn’t give up,” Rob Guerin said. “They know how to win and until that buzzer rings, they’re going to work their butt off. And then know if it’s overtime, they just get a little bonus basketball. They’re going to come out and keep playing hard.”
Jacob Lafferty led Sparta with 18 points, including a pair of emphatic, highlight-reel dunks.
Three other Trojans finished in double-figures – Dexter Loveland (17 points), Walker Loveland (11) and Kavan Walker (12), who hit the buzzer-beating shot at the end of the first half.
Sparta fell to 5-2 on the season, the only other defeat coming by two points to a Strafford team that is currently ranked third in Class 3.
“This run isn’t something that we look at every day,” Sparta coach Deric Link said. “We’re trying to get better and trying to win a conference and district title at the end of the year. There are a lot of things we have to work on and get better at so we can compete for that. Right now, we’re not there.”
Two of Marionville’s victories have come against teams that were either ranked or received votes in the first statewide Class 3 poll of the year. Those wins over No. 9 Greenwood and the Trojans should give them a boost in the next Class 2 poll after being omitted from the first one.
“It doesn’t matter where you are in the polls,” Rob Guerin said. “Yeah, it’s nice to have but we just come out, focus and play hard whether we’re not ranked or ranked. It doesn’t matter.”
Both teams will return to action on Tuesday.
Marionville will head to Purdy, while Sparta will host Springfield Catholic in its final game before making its first Blue & Gold Tournament appearance in roughly two decades.
“We’ve got to get tougher,” Link said. “We have to do a better job of rebounding late. We have to do a better job of guarding our yard – or our paint – a little better. That’s the fourth straight game we’ve allowed over 60 points, so we have to do a better job defensively. And we have to do a better job with ball security. Anytime you’re playing big games like this, it’s going to come down to who can guard, who can rebound (and) who can protect the basketball.”
And who’s healthy enough to play.
“Didn’t feel too well tonight,” Young said, “but we came out ready to go and got the win.”
