By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It had been 15 years since Marionville’s last outright conference championship in boys basketball.
The wait is over.
The Comets finished off an unbeaten run through the Southwest Conference with a 44-30 win at Miller Tuesday night and can now officially celebrate their first title since 2008.
“I thought it was possible,” head coach Rob Guerin said. “I knew we’d have to work at it. Every night you have to come ready and prepared and focused. Make sure you’re willing to do your job. It takes a whole team effort to get it done.”
Tuesday’s win didn’t come as easily as most of the others.
Marionville, which earned some votes in the latest Class 2 poll by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, entered the week with a 7-0 record in SWC play and had won those games by an average of 25 points.
But the Comets (23-2) found themselves tied up with Miller (10-14) early in the third quarter. So Marionville leaned on its defense.
After Miller’s Rolan Rinker and Alex Pennington scored back-to-back to tie the game at 23, the visitors held the Cardinals scoreless for their next 12 possessions, a span of nearly eight minutes, while forcing six turnovers.
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That gave the Comets some breathing room.
“Our focus is definitely defense, just like you saw tonight,” Guerin said. “We did not shoot the ball very well tonight. Usually we shoot it a lot better than that. We focus on our defense so if we have a bad shooting night, our defense will help keep us in the game if not win it for us.”
They needed more of it in the fourth.
Marionville only scored 10 points in the third quarter, and after Miller’s Owen Weiss scored five straight to open the final period, the Comets lead was 33-28.
But then Miller was held scoreless on its next three possessions. Marionville’s Wil Carlton made a 3-pointer, Hugh Eaton grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, and then Carlton added a layup to make it a 12-point game.
And the Cardinals were held without a field goal for the final 6:55 of the game.
“The boys know when it’s crunch time,” Guerin said. “They’ve got a good sense of urgency and they know when they’ve really got to crack down and play defense and work harder than they have been.”
Carlton finished with 18 points and Blane Young added 16 with each making two triples. Gage Guerin scored five and Eaton and Kolby Ghan each added two.
Miller’s Weiss scored 11, Pennington had eight, Nate Hill scored seven and Jarod Lung added four.
“It’s a good one,” Guerin said. “We’ll take it and move on to the next.”
