3/4 Marietta v New Lexington

[Sportsfan01]

Marietta was a better team and only scored 40 points. No way can you let New Lex slow the game down and not adjust. You got to find a way to get Kendall the ball. They also missed about 8 layups. Marietta just didn’t have the guards or the perimeter shooting to win a game like this. Warren guards are much better I got them beating New Lex by 10 plus.

Your description right here demonstrates it was just an off game for too many Marietta players. Missed layups (I doubt it was 8) were certainly a problem and if they make half of those they win. People on here seem to forget Marietta beat Warren by 5 and lost by 4. Had they played New Lex anything like those games it would have been a solid margin win.

People following sports do this all the time -- they look at one game and make assumptions or come to conclusions. So if Marietta doesn't miss those layups or makes a few more free throws, they win and the conversation is totally different. Good reminder about how tough Marietta played an outstanding Warren team this year.

Marietta had a great team and a great year. This loss does not take away from what they accomplished or how good they were. Yes, Marietta had chances to win last night. But, imo the reason the game so close is because Marietta allowed New Lex to control the tempo. The credit goes to New Lex coaches for implementing that game plan and the players for executing. On the flip side, if you’re Marietta I think you had to find a way to speed that game. To me Marietta simply did not play to their strength, and did not force New Lex out of their comfort zone. We can blame it on coaching, execution, the refs, or a combination of all. I think coming into this game most people saw Marietta as slight favorite, but knew New Lex would give them a battle and have a chance to win. I still think Marietta is better team, but they weren’t last night. And too me that because of the game plan and the execution. I’m not saying that as knock on Marietta, it’s the district tournament, lesser talented teams win all the time. It’s what makes win or go home games/tournaments so fun.

[Hookshot]

Some of these replies are a thing of beauty....

New Lex wanted the game in the 40's & Marietta wanted it to be in the 60's. New Lex has held 18 teams under 50 points. This was their pace & their style of game the entire game, which is why the won. Blame the officials or the team for "not showing up" but make sure to give the Panthers credit for executing their game plan to absolute perfection. Duerr is one of the top 2/3 coaches south of I70 & east of 23, that is not debatable. Their win over Tri-Valley was the best win by any team in the SE District, & they might get a rematch in the convo in the sweet 16.

I don't disagree with any of this, except Marietta's defense has held 20 teams under 50 points all season and their style of play is not all that different than New Lexington defensively. Coach Duerr did a fantastic job. As others have said, it was a bad time for the Tigers to miss free throws and field goals that they usually make. It happens.

[HamPorter]

Always some excuse when the tigers lose. Fact is they played a awful schedule and barely excaped some of those bad teams to get the seed they did and ran into a better team last night

I’m glad some posters like pioneer19 above gave full credit to the defense that the panthers played, because that is why they are moving on, not officiating like others have implied

Good season for marieta but if you want to take the next step you e got to up that non conference schedule

Arguing on social media is probably a lost cause, but I don't see anyone not crediting New Lex, especially for their defense. New Lex can play excellent defense and the officiating can still have been a factor against Kendall, which it was. Two things can be true.

Too many people forget how tough Marietta played Warren this year -- beating them by 5 and losing by just 4. Why did that happen?

Regarding schedule, Marietta had the 3rd best ranking in terms of Opponent's Winning Percentage of the top 10 Southeast District D-II teams, and the best OOWP of all 20 teams in the district. Are you going to criticize other teams who played no better schedules than Marietta and are still playing in Ohio, and who didn't schedule games against larger schools? Marietta did schedule games against bigger schools and teams from D-1 conferences. It is not always possible to know one year out how good a team may be the next year.

Marietta lost 6 of its top 10 players from its 15-8 team last year and had an impressive run this season. You believe some people offer excuses. But others would say more respect or credit is due.

7th best opponents win %, not 3rd. Ill give you the other stat as they did have that

-Westland, a d1 powerhouse, had back to back 1 win seasons before marietta added them this year and 8 wins going back to 2019

-Perry, another powerhouse, won 7 games over thebpast two seasons before a rousing 5 wins this year

-Buckeye Local is a terrible program

-Bethel hasn’t been over .500 in like 8 years

-fed hock is fine, but is not even a 3rd of the size as marietta and shouldn’t be played twice

-meigs is a bad program that isn’t going to make you better even if they had a good season

Those games aren’t going to prepare a team for a tournament run like what new lex’s schedule did for them. You have to play teams that are going to force you into different styles and those above teams are going to do it. Sure the tigers played warren tough twice but that’s because they were a good team, just not particularly battle tested like you need to be to win in the division two tournament

[Hookshot]

Your description right here demonstrates it was just an off game for too many Marietta players. Missed layups (I doubt it was 8) were certainly a problem and if they make half of those they win. People on here seem to forget Marietta beat Warren by 5 and lost by 4. Had they played New Lex anything like those games it would have been a solid margin win.

People following sports do this all the time -- they look at one game and make assumptions or come to conclusions. So if Marietta doesn't miss those layups or makes a few more free throws, they win and the conversation is totally different. Good reminder about how tough Marietta played an outstanding Warren team this year.

Marietta had a great team and a great year. This loss does not take away from what they accomplished or how good they were. Yes, Marietta had chances to win last night. But, imo the reason the game so close is because Marietta allowed New Lex to control the tempo. The credit goes to New Lex coaches for implementing that game plan and the players for executing. On the flip side, if you’re Marietta I think you had to find a way to speed that game. To me Marietta simply did not play to their strength, and did not force New Lex out of their comfort zone. We can blame it on coaching, execution, the refs, or a combination of all. I think coming into this game most people saw Marietta as slight favorite, but knew New Lex would give them a battle and have a chance to win. I still think Marietta is better team, but they weren’t last night. And too me that because of the game plan and the execution. I’m not saying that as knock on Marietta, it’s the district tournament, lesser talented teams win all the time. It’s what makes win or go home games/tournaments so fun.

I get most of that, but as others have said, if Marietta just makes relatively easy layups or a few more free throws (forget all the rest of the chatter) they still win and the discussion about pace of play, or coaching strategy, or anything else is not an issue. Based on everything I've seen from both teams this year (which admittedly is more than anyone else -- doesn't mean my analysis is perfect) I think the style of the game was fine for both teams. I'm not sure Marietta could have increased the pace of play that much facing New Lex's defense as good as it was.

[boss8]

New Lex had the better strategy coming in and Marietta was not able to adjust. New Lex did a good job defending the post despite the size disadvantage and slowed down the pace and made Marietta really work on the defensive end.

New Lex is a very strong defensive team with two scoring options. Some games Marietta is a strong defensive team and tonight only one player who could score. I don’t think strategy had anything to do with the verdict — both executed for the most part what they wanted to do but usually the Tigers will get Wittekind or Lieras-Kelley or even Jones to put up a few more points but that didn’t happen. Not a good night for Marietta to play subpar.

Marietta had a huge size advantage but failed to use that. Kendall had a decent game. But he did not get near enough touches in low post IMO. Partially because of New Lexs great defense and partially because I didn’t think Marietta did enough to try and get him open. So I think that does come down to strategy.

Marietta dominated the glass and Kendall had 17 & 13, most of his points coming at the rim. A majority of Marietta's points came in the paint. How exactly did Marietta fail to use their size advantage? Marietta posted Kendall up far more than they have in most of their games this year and got him the ball in a variety of spots. This was not the Warren game where Marietta failed to adjust to how the Warriors defended Kendall. They had a great game plan.

New Lex also played very well and made the free throws and plays down the stretch to win. They gave great effort on defense, but as has been pointed out, Kendall also did not get the foul calls he earned (look at the picture in the game article in the Marietta Times...it tells the whole story). Good defense turns excellent when a team is allowed to foul repeatedly.

[pfloyd]

As I watched the game unfold , THE best offensive "sets" for Marietta were those that "any" of the other 4 players not named Kendall ran opposite the big man, he came in with rebounds on the backside, and had putback buckets (3 of them , 2 in succession in the 4th period - I told Lou after board/stickback #2 that THAT is the best offense the Tigers have run the entire game - any away from Kendall offense that he could come into the opposite block for the board & putback ... obviously THAT didn't happen enough as the New Lex D kept everyone out of the paint for MHS ... hindsight again LOL ... New Lex will be a tough matchup for Warren - a pair of guards who can get to the rim (although their tendency is to both attack from right to left - wasn't sure how that wasn't stopped at some point during the MHS game by the Tigers) ... we didn't even see the New Lex perimeter scoring - which IS dangerous ... Hanson's tendency is to take it to the rim ...Stephens can do both - get to the rim AND drain the 3 ball from anywhere this side of the Appalachian Highway ... Ratliff & even Stephens "the younger" can hit the 3 ball ... it will be interesting to see how Warren defends NL ... looking forward to this one at 2pm Saturday !!!

[SouthEast Hoops Fan]

As I watched the game unfold , THE best offensive "sets" for Marietta were those that "any" of the other 4 players not named Kendall ran opposite the big man, he came in with rebounds on the backside, and had putback buckets (3 of them , 2 in succession in the 4th period - I told Lou after board/stickback #2 that THAT is the best offense the Tigers have run the entire game - any away from Kendall offense that he could come into the opposite block for the board & putback ... obviously THAT didn't happen enough as the New Lex D kept everyone out of the paint for MHS ... hindsight again LOL ... New Lex will be a tough matchup for Warren - a pair of guards who can get to the rim (although their tendency is to both attack from right to left - wasn't sure how that wasn't stopped at some point during the MHS game by the Tigers) ... we didn't even see the New Lex perimeter scoring - which IS dangerous ... Hanson's tendency is to take it to the rim ...Stephens can do both - get to the rim AND drain the 3 ball from anywhere this side of the Appalachian Highway ... Ratliff & even Stephens "the younger" can hit the 3 ball ... it will be interesting to see how Warren defends NL ... looking forward to this one at 2pm Saturday !!!

Interesting observations about Marietta’s other guys. In key games it’s been Lieras-Kelley or Wittekind getting to the basket or penetrating enough to hit mid-range shots. (Remember the first Warren game Wittekind gave the impression he was the best player on the floor and scored 22 points despite missing a bunch of free throws). In this game the Tigers did not get as many of the kind of good looks they wanted or missed layups and other easy shots.

[SkinIt1999]

Always some excuse when the tigers lose. Fact is they played a awful schedule and barely excaped some of those bad teams to get the seed they did and ran into a better team last night

I’m glad some posters like pioneer19 above gave full credit to the defense that the panthers played, because that is why they are moving on, not officiating like others have implied

Good season for marieta but if you want to take the next step you e got to up that non conference schedule

Arguing on social media is probably a lost cause, but I don't see anyone not crediting New Lex, especially for their defense. New Lex can play excellent defense and the officiating can still have been a factor against Kendall, which it was. Two things can be true.

Too many people forget how tough Marietta played Warren this year -- beating them by 5 and losing by just 4. Why did that happen?

Regarding schedule, Marietta had the 3rd best ranking in terms of Opponent's Winning Percentage of the top 10 Southeast District D-II teams, and the best OOWP of all 20 teams in the district. Are you going to criticize other teams who played no better schedules than Marietta and are still playing in Ohio, and who didn't schedule games against larger schools? Marietta did schedule games against bigger schools and teams from D-1 conferences. It is not always possible to know one year out how good a team may be the next year.

Marietta lost 6 of its top 10 players from its 15-8 team last year and had an impressive run this season. You believe some people offer excuses. But others would say more respect or credit is due.

7th best opponents win %, not 3rd. Ill give you the other stat as they did have that

-Westland, a d1 powerhouse, had back to back 1 win seasons before marietta added them this year and 8 wins going back to 2019

-Perry, another powerhouse, won 7 games over thebpast two seasons before a rousing 5 wins this year

-Buckeye Local is a terrible program

-Bethel hasn’t been over .500 in like 8 years

-fed hock is fine, but is not even a 3rd of the size as marietta and shouldn’t be played twice

-meigs is a bad program that isn’t going to make you better even if they had a good season

Those games aren’t going to prepare a team for a tournament run like what new lex’s schedule did for them. You have to play teams that are going to force you into different styles and those above teams are going to do it. Sure the tigers played warren tough twice but that’s because they were a good team, just not particularly battle tested like you need to be to win in the division two tournament

I would have to agree! Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.
New Lex just turned it into a physical boxing match. Tigers had a good year as well as New Lex, but Warren will probably be off to the Regionals again.

[mhs95_06]

Arguing on social media is probably a lost cause, but I don't see anyone not crediting New Lex, especially for their defense. New Lex can play excellent defense and the officiating can still have been a factor against Kendall, which it was. Two things can be true.

Too many people forget how tough Marietta played Warren this year -- beating them by 5 and losing by just 4. Why did that happen?

Regarding schedule, Marietta had the 3rd best ranking in terms of Opponent's Winning Percentage of the top 10 Southeast District D-II teams, and the best OOWP of all 20 teams in the district. Are you going to criticize other teams who played no better schedules than Marietta and are still playing in Ohio, and who didn't schedule games against larger schools? Marietta did schedule games against bigger schools and teams from D-1 conferences. It is not always possible to know one year out how good a team may be the next year.

Marietta lost 6 of its top 10 players from its 15-8 team last year and had an impressive run this season. You believe some people offer excuses. But others would say more respect or credit is due.

7th best opponents win %, not 3rd. Ill give you the other stat as they did have that

-Westland, a d1 powerhouse, had back to back 1 win seasons before marietta added them this year and 8 wins going back to 2019

-Perry, another powerhouse, won 7 games over thebpast two seasons before a rousing 5 wins this year

-Buckeye Local is a terrible program

-Bethel hasn’t been over .500 in like 8 years

-fed hock is fine, but is not even a 3rd of the size as marietta and shouldn’t be played twice

-meigs is a bad program that isn’t going to make you better even if they had a good season

Those games aren’t going to prepare a team for a tournament run like what new lex’s schedule did for them. You have to play teams that are going to force you into different styles and those above teams are going to do it. Sure the tigers played warren tough twice but that’s because they were a good team, just not particularly battle tested like you need to be to win in the division two tournament

I would have to agree! Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.
New Lex just turned it into a physical boxing match. Tigers had a good year as well as New Lex, but Warren will probably be off to the Regionals again.

Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.

I agree with this.

[Hookshot]

7th best opponents win %, not 3rd. Ill give you the other stat as they did have that

-Westland, a d1 powerhouse, had back to back 1 win seasons before marietta added them this year and 8 wins going back to 2019

-Perry, another powerhouse, won 7 games over thebpast two seasons before a rousing 5 wins this year

-Buckeye Local is a terrible program

-Bethel hasn’t been over .500 in like 8 years

-fed hock is fine, but is not even a 3rd of the size as marietta and shouldn’t be played twice

-meigs is a bad program that isn’t going to make you better even if they had a good season

Those games aren’t going to prepare a team for a tournament run like what new lex’s schedule did for them. You have to play teams that are going to force you into different styles and those above teams are going to do it. Sure the tigers played warren tough twice but that’s because they were a good team, just not particularly battle tested like you need to be to win in the division two tournament

I would have to agree! Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.
New Lex just turned it into a physical boxing match. Tigers had a good year as well as New Lex, but Warren will probably be off to the Regionals again.

Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.

I agree with this.

Why is nobody criticizing Warren's schedule, which was weaker than Marietta's?

[HamPorter]

I would have to agree! Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.
New Lex just turned it into a physical boxing match. Tigers had a good year as well as New Lex, but Warren will probably be off to the Regionals again.

Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.

I agree with this.

Why is nobody criticizing Warren's schedule, which was weaker than Marietta's?

Playing Belpre twice is bad but if the Linsly game was counted, it would have been a stronger schedule than marietta played

Also, they are still playing so it’s harder to criticize a winner

[mhs95_06]

Some things in the media:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... b18c&ei=31

From Marietta times:

The Warriors will now take on New Lexington, fresh off its 43-40 upset victory against Marietta. The game will take place at the Convo at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Maddox said of their upcoming opponents, the Panthers, “They got the game the way they needed it against Marietta. They’re usually really good foul shooters. They missed a couple tonight, which surprised me. Well-coached, know them well. It’s gonna be a grind, and I’m just glad to get the opportunity to play them.”

He concluded, “Thanks to the Warrior nation for coming out. A lot of blue in here tonight. Let’s double that come Saturday.”

Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com


“It felt like a football game at times but that is Southeast Ohio basketball and I’m just proud of our guys for competing and playing hard,” said second-year MHS head coach Austin Gardner. “Obviously we didn’t play our best game and missed a lot of shots around the basket but at the end of the day it’s not necessarily who is the better team but who is better for 32 minutes and credit to New Lexington they were tonight.”

Gardner felt like the Tigers had the right play call but the shot much like the entire game just didn’t go their way.
“We drew up a little flair play for him (Kendall) and when you’ve got the best player in Southeastern Ohio and a guy that shoots 45 percent from three you will let him take that shot 10 out of 10 times,” said Gardner. “We knew with his size he was going to able to get the shot off and unfortunately it didn’t go in.”

MIKE MORRISON
Sports Writer

[SouthEast Hoops Fan]

Schedule has been weaker the past few years. Sometimes a program needs to win some games and build moral of the program.

I agree with this.

Why is nobody criticizing Warren's schedule, which was weaker than Marietta's?

Playing Belpre twice is bad but if the Linsly game was counted, it would have been a stronger schedule than marietta played

Also, they are still playing so it’s harder to criticize a winner

You’re getting worse with every post. Warren also played Logan (2-21) twice. Nobody is saying Warren isn’t very good but to say it is because of their schedule preparation is just either intentionally dishonest or a lack of comprehension. Just because someone beat a #14 seed and someone else lost to a 20-4 #4 seed doesn’t mean the winning team (Warren) was better prepared.

[HamPorter]

Maybe we need to look back at the years of quotes from Maddox and see if he ever cried about referees in the newspaper like mariettas coach did?

No wonder the marietta fans are nothing but excuses whenever you lose and almost always atbthe officials

[E High]

Fine year for Marietta. If they want to move on in the tournament next year, it’s time to schedule up. Regular season means little. Don’t worry about who the other teams schedule !

[Picket Fence]

From a Washington County basketball fan’s perspective, I truly believe both Warren and Marietta did what they could to prepare for the tournament. During the regular season each team had its weak opponents and tough opponents. I did notice something though, I felt like Marietta wasn’t as sharp towards the end of the season, while Warren started finding its groove. A 22 game regular season can be weary for the coaching staff and 15-18 year old kids. A lot happens throughout the season that isn’t necessarily discussed……life events, academic struggles, social/relational issues, nagging injuries, disciplinary issues, and mental health issues. Not sure what happened to Marietta but it seems like they peaked at the middle of the season. With that being said, whoever wins the District Championship, has a good shot to make it to the Regional Championship (face the East District Champ in Regional Semis). However, the Regional Championship will most likely be against a Central District team (Bishop Hartley?).

[enigmaax]

Fine year for Marietta. If they want to move on in the tournament next year, it’s time to schedule up. Regular season means little. Don’t worry about who the other teams schedule !

Zero evidence that playing a tougher schedule translates to tournament success. New Lex & Warren have the 3rd & 5th worst opponents win percentage in the district and they’re playing in the finals, just as one example. Upsets happen, teams get hot at the right time, that’s just how tournaments go sometimes.

[SouthEast Hoops Fan]

Maybe we need to look back at the years of quotes from Maddox and see if he ever cried about referees in the newspaper like mariettas coach did?

No wonder the marietta fans are nothing but excuses whenever you lose and almost always atbthe officials

What you’re saying is not even truthful.

[justpassinthru]

Its a tough call on scheduling and who will play you. With the new RPI type seeding thing it appears that wins mean alot, much more than who you played. Its now becoming a two way problem. You need to schedule better teams but if those teams wont play you now for fear of loss then who are you to play.

[boss8]

Maybe we need to look back at the years of quotes from Maddox and see if he ever cried about referees in the newspaper like mariettas coach did?

No wonder the marietta fans are nothing but excuses whenever you lose and almost always atbthe officials

You clearly don’t know Coach Maddox. Excellent coach, but he complains about officials all the time. Every coach does lol