Colts ousted by Williams Vy.

POTTSVILLE — In his 25 years as Williams Valley’s head basketball coach, you would have thought Denny Kasper had seen just about everything.

But Friday night at Martz Hall, Kasper witnessed something — actually two things — that he can’t ever remember happening in his career.

While neither one of them was a good thing, Kasper was still able to smile when talking about them following the Vikings’ District 11 Class 2A quarterfinal game against Marian.

That’s because despite not making a field goal during the first half, and not converting a two-point field goal the entire game, Williams Valley somehow found a way to beat the Colts, 25-22.

“I don’t ever remember a game like this where we didn’t make our first field goal until the third quarter,” said Kasper. “And I don’t ever remember a night where a team didn’t have a two-point field goal the entire game.

“But like I just told our kids in the lockerroom, its doesn’t matter if you score 70 points and win or 20 points and win, the bottom line is we found a way to win.”

The Vikings won the game by holding a Marian team that entered the contest averaging over 65 points a contest to its fewest point total in over six years — a stretch of 147 games.

“Our defense kept us in it. No question about it,” said Kasper. “I told the kids at halftime to keep playing defense like they were because eventually some shots would fall — and it took a long time — but eventually we made enough to pull it out.”

Marian coach John Patton was also pleased with the play of his defense, but said the offensive struggles proved to be too much to overcome.

“As well as we played defensively, its hard to win a game when you only score 22 points — especially when neither team was holding the ball,” said Patton. “We could never get any rhythm offensively. Shooting can be contagious. Some nights when one person is making shots, everybody is making shots. On other nights, like tonight, it seems like nobody can make a shot.”

The Colts (18-6) led 10-6 at halftime as Williams Valley shot 0-for-15 from the field and Marian was 3-for-19.

“We had several opportunities to stretch our lead in the second quarter,” said Patton. “I believe we were ahead 9-2 about a minute into the quarter and then scored one point the remainder of the half. When you hold a team without a field goal in the half, you need to have more than a four-point lead.”

The game was tied 14-14 after three periods before Williams Valley’s Jake Herman delivered the two biggest baskets of the night — burying a pair of three-pointers within the span of 90 seconds to put the Vikings ahead 20-16 with 4:01 left.

It was a lead the Vikings never surrendered.

Three times in the final minute, Tyler Fritz pulled Marian to within a basket — once on a free throw and twice on driving layups — but the Colts hit just one of three free throws in the final :42 preventing them from getting even closer or tying the game.

“They are hurting in the locker room right now, but I told them they will eventually get past this and do great things moving forward,” Patton said.

“Hopefully, this will be just a blip on the radar and all they accomplished this season and the friendships they made with their teammates is what they’ll remember most,”

A LONG TIME AGO ... The last time Marian scored less than 22 points was Jan. 30, 2014 in a 68-21 loss to Pius X.

LOWEST EVER ... According to Marian basketball historian Mark Keip, the 47 total points the teams combined for last night was the lowest scoring game in Marian basketball history.

DRYSPELLS ... Williams Valley (16-7) went 18:11 before Bo Raho hit their first field goals with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Marian had a 12:56 stretch without a field goal from Fritz’s three-pointer with 7:09 left in the second quarter until John Malarkey’s followup with 2:13 left in the third. The Colts also had a 4:45 stretch without a field goal in the first quarter and a 4:36 span without a bucket from late in the third quarter until midway through the fourth.

WILLIAMS VALLEY

Herb 0-6-8-6, Raho 2-6-9-12, Engle 0-0-0-0, Evans 0-0-0-0, Herman 2-1-4-7, B. Miller 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 4-13-21-25.

MARIAN

T. Fritz 6-1-5-14, Ristick 0-1-2-1, Agosti 0-0-0-0, L. Fritz 0-0-0-0, Malarkey 1-0-0-2, Goff 0-0-0-0, Cerullo 1-2-4-4, Eroh 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 8-5-13-22.

Williams Vy. 2 4 8 11 - 25

Marian 5 5 4 8 - 22

Three-pointers: Williams Valley - Raho 2, Herman 2. Marian - T. Fritz 1.