By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MARIONVILLE – Wil Carlton and the Marionville Comets still remember the six-second sequence that cost them a shot at the Southwest Conference championship last February.
They made sure it wouldn’t happen again.
Carlton scored 20 points, Blane Young added 14 and the Comets used a strong second half to pull away from Ash Grove en route to a 57-45 victory on Tuesday at Marionville High School.
The win came almost one year to the day after then-Pirates senior Sam Moreland converted a four-point play in the closing seconds of overtime on February 8, 2022, and Ash Grove rode the momentum to a victory that ultimately led to its first outright conference title since 1985.
The rematch looked like it could also be headed for overtime, as it was tied 35-35 late in the third quarter and neither side had led the game by more than six points.
But the Comets went on an 11-3 run to go up 46-38 with 4:28 remaining in regulation and continued scoring, ultimately netting 22 of the game’s final 32 points to take control of the conference title race.
“We’ve been fired up for this game since that happened,” Carlton said. “We’ve wanted Ash Grove ever since Sammy Moreland hit that four-point play on us. We’ve been working hard. … It feels good to take this one back.”
The Comets (20-2, 5-0) are now the lone unbeaten team in the Southwest Conference and control their own fate as they look to secure their first outright conference title since 2008.
They have three games remaining against Sarcoxie, Lockwood and Miller, who are all hovering around the .500 mark. Sweep them all and they’ll be crowned champions.
“We really want it,” Marionville coach Rob Guerin said. “But we have to come every day. It’s a competitive conference. If you don’t come every day, then someone’s going to take it from you.”
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Just look at what happened a year ago.
“We didn’t want a repeat of last year,” Guerin said. “We were trying to make sure we gave a little extra effort early so we could seal it in regulation.”
For most of the first three quarters, the Pirates matched that effort.
Asher Rust hit four of his six 3-pointers in the first half as the Pirates led 15-10 after the first quarter and 27-26 entering the halftime break.
But with the game tied in the third quarter, Young was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free-throw attempts to put the Comets up 38-35.
They held that lead the rest of the night.
“We got a couple of stops and we were also able to knock down some shots,” Guerin said. “We got a little bit of momentum and the boys got a little more comfortable with what kind of movement we had adjusted at halftime. They finally figured out what kind of movement we needed and where the open spots were.”
Once the Comets started building their momentum, Ash Grove’s open looks became less frequent. On the rare occasion the Pirates found one, shots didn’t fall — or promptly got negated by an offensive foul call.
The Pirates scored just 18 points in the second half.
“We missed a lot of really good looks,” Pirates coach Grant Williamson said. “I thought we did a good job of running a pretty decent offense and then we’d get it in a good spot and we’d miss. And they also did a good job of rotating on defense. Credit to them. They’re tough on both ends of the floor. They took a lot of charges tonight and really made it tough for us to get any good looks late in the game.”
Rust finished with 22 points for Ash Grove, while Brady Nicholson added 13 in what was technically a Marionville upset. The Pirates (18-4, 5-1) are currently ranked fourth in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association’s Class 2 polls.
Marionville has never been ranked higher than eighth at any point this season, and is currently not even listed in the top 10.
“The rankings are bogus,” Williamson said. “We’ve said it all year, because we’ve been ranked. They don’t really mean anything because unranked teams beat ranked teams all the time. Marionville is really good. No idea how they haven’t been ranked all season. Hopefully we can see them down the road, because that means both of us are making a big postseason push.”
Such a meeting could not happen until the state championship game, although the Comets believe they have the tools to make a deep playoff run.
“This is the highest IQ team I’ve had for my four years here,” Carlton said. “I believe we’re going to be a conference championship team after we win these next few games. We have a lot more coming. We have a lot more coming.”
ASH GROVE (18-4, 4-1) 15 12 8 10 — 45
MARIONVILLE (20-2, 4-0) 10 16 14 17 — 57
