PURCHASE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME

Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – The biggest roar of the night came from a run-out dunk by Marion junior Alex Mota to finalize the Wolves’ 75-62 Class 3A substate final victory over Clear Creek Amana.

But the most important two possessions were somewhat less glamorous 3-point plays on back-to-back possessions to stave off a promising Clipper comeback with just 3 minutes left in the game.

The game was hard-fought, physical and mostly contested within 16 feet of the basket as both teams favored dribble penetration to jump shots.

Marion led 37-35 at halftime and used the third quarter to create some distance between the teams, outscoring the Clippers by seven.

“The third quarter for Marion has been like their big quarter, and we knew that and talked to our kids about not allowing them to jump out and make it a big quarter, and unfortunately they did,” Clipper coach Brandon Clubb said. “It was their defensive intensity. They played great defense all night, and in that third quarter they came out and established that with how physical it was. I think that rattled us a little bit.”

“Alex got going there and gave us a little bit of a spark there,” Marion guard Brayson Laube said. “I think as a team defensively we put on a different mindset than we had in the first half. More like a lockdown.”

Early in the fourth quarter Marion led 56-47, but CCA finally put together three scoring possessions in a row and cut the lead to just 58-54.

After getting a stop thanks to two blocked shots, CCA had a chance to get within one or two points but turned the ball over.

Marion post Boede Rahe scored on a turnaround jumper, was fouled and added the free throw.

CCA missed two shots on its next possession and Marion’s Laube successfully drove to the basket, was fouled and added the free throw.

All of a sudden the four-point lead was 10 with just 3:25 left.

“We kept getting it close and then there was a 3-point play that’s a big momentum play and everybody gets excited,” Clubb said.

Turnovers plagued CCA all night.

The Clippers had 22 turnovers, effectively negating a decent shooting night. Marion ended up with 22 more shots and made eight more baskets than did CCA.

“It was a physical game; our kids got rattled a little bit, turned it over, maybe a little bit more uncharacteristic than we normally do,” Clubb said.

He suggested that his players were trying to play perhaps a step too fast in the up-and-down game.

Many of the turnovers came when players drove into traffic and lost the ball. Several turnovers led to fast breaks for the Wolves.

Mota, an Iowa football commit, led all scorers with 25 including his first two dunks of the season.

Laube added 20 and Rahe 13. The Clippers were led by Grant Kruse’s 15, Brody Clubb’s 14, and Ben Swails’ 13.

Marion (19-5) will play in next week’s state tournament.

Clear Creek Amana finished the season 16-8 and Clubb paid tribute to his team’s somewhat surprising success.

“Looking back at our team, we had one starter coming back,” Clubb said. “One kid that had played a little bit. Otherwise we had a lot of spots to fill. It took us a while to kind of find our way and find our roles. If you would have told me we’d have this record with the guys we had coming back, I don’t know that I would have believed you.”

Marion                           21  16  17  21  –  75

Clear Creek Amana  23  12  10  15  –  62

Marion (75) – Brayson Laube 8-18 4-8 20, Alex Mota 9-13 4-4 25, Jordan Fischer 0-5 0-1 0, Myles Davis 1-2 4-4 6, Boede Rahe 6-9 1-1 13, Payton Hodges 2-6 0-0 6, Calen Claypool 2-3 0-0 4, Kaden Frommelt 0-0 1-2 1, Nathan Whalen 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 28-58 14-20.

Clear Creek Amana (62) – Kyle Schrepfer 2-8 5-5 9, Ben Swails 4-6 4-6 13, Harrison Rosenberg 2-4 0-1 4, Grant Kruse 4-9 5-7 15, Brody Clubb 5-8 4-4 14, Gage Freeman 3-5 1-1 7, Totals 20-36 19-24.

Three-point goals – MAR 5-22 (Laube 0-5, Mota 3-6, Fischer 0-4, Davis 0-1, Hodges 2-5, Whalen 0-1), CCA 3-11 (Schrepfer 0-3, Swails 1-2, Kruse 2-5, Freeman 0-1). Fouls – Marion 22, CCA 18. Fouled out – CCA (Schrepfer).

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