A solid performance by 6-5 post player senior Nick Malysheff and an effective 1-3-1 zone defense proved to be the combination that gave Mariner a 55-42 victory in a game that was a lot closer than the final score indicates.
Even though Mariner outscored Shorecest in all four quarters it took a late rally to nail down the victory.
Mariner scored their first five points before Shorecrest tied it five all. The guard play of 6-3 junior Tevin Dillon and a strong defense helped Mariner to a 22-19 halftime lead.
Shorecrest seemed to be on their way to their seventh loss of the season in the third quarter, but rallied behind 6-5 freshman forward junior Chibuogwu and some solid defense that helped Shorecrest gain a 39-39 tie with three minutes, 45 seconds left in the game. But after that it was all Mariner as they scored 16 points in the final four-and-a-half minutes.
Leading scorer for Shorecrest was Jordan Diel with 13 points followed by Chibuogwu with 9 points.
Shorecrest coach Brian Fisher stated that “we had trouble containing Malysheff when they ran plays for him. Also, we did not do a good job against their 1-3-1 zone and that was a big factor that contributed to our loss.” Fisher told his team after the game that he was proud of the way they fought back and that ” we can play with anyone, make no mistake about that”.
Mariner Coach Dexter Griffin, now in his 11th year at Mariner, paid tribute to Shorecrest saying “Coach (Brian) Fischer teams keep coming at you, they always are scrapping and gave us all we could handle.”
Griffin says that one of the biggest factors in the win was by switching zone defenses with a 3-2, 2-3 and 1-3-1. “By the time they would adjust to one zone defense we threw another one at them.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
