Marian rallies to top Panther Valley

Marian can score in bunches.

And on Friday night, they needed to to stay undefeated.

Trailing by 12 points to host Panther Valley with just over four minutes to play, the Colts used a furious comeback to gain a 62-60 non-league victory.

The winners tallied 24 points over that final stretch, including three three-pointers from Chris Ritsick, to overtake a Panther squad that led for most of the contest.

“It started out rough, but what matters was how it finished,” said Ritsick, who finished the night with 19 points. “At first, I think we came out a little jittery but we adjusted. We were confident in our shooting, and we just kept shooting. Shots finally started falling.”

Nothing fell for the visitors early on.

The Colts were just 1-of-14 from the floor in the first quarter as PV gained an 11-6 advantage. The Panthers used a box-and-one on Tyler Fritz, rotating three different players against Marian’s top scorer.

“They had a great gameplan and Coach (Pat) Crampsie does a great job,” said Marian mentor John Patton, whose team improved to 6-0. “In the first quarter, we only had one basket and four fouls shots. We had open looks that we couldn’t convert. That allows a junk defense to be successful, and that’s what happened. We got the shots we wanted but none of them went in.”

The two rivals battled back-and-forth throughout the middle frames. The Panthers (5-2) would open a small gap, but the Colts would always use a quick spurt to narrow the deficit.

Early in the final frame, though, PV used a pair of threes from Erick Marchorro and another trey from Brandon Stilitino to go on a 13-5 run. That pushed the Panthers’ lead to 50-38.

“We thought we weren’t moving the ball enough in the first half,” said Crampsie. “There was too much dribbling. Marian did a nice job of cutting off our driving lanes, so we needed to get the ball moving. Once we got the ball moving, we did a much better job of getting some open looks. We got the open looks and knocked them down to build that lead.

“But then we had mental errors, a lack of focus locating their shooters, turnovers at key moments. Credit to them, because we weren’t able to control the ball and run a little bit of time off the clock. I felt Marian got way too many possessions there in the final minutes ... They also found a way to get to the free throw line. Credit to them because they kept fighting back.”

Fritz, who went 12-of-13 at the foul line and ended with a game-high 21 points, drained a pair of free throws to start the rally midway through the fourth. After a Ritsick three, Fritz hit from inside. Two treys from Ritsick and one from Dante Agosti whittled the margin to 57-56 with 56 seconds left to play.

“A lot of our guys have been through games like this — Tyler, Dante, Chris,” said Patton. “They’ve been starting for three years now ... we don’t have to say much. They know what it’s all about. They’ve been in this situation before.

“Down the end, we hit some big shots and made some steals ... We did a good job of putting pressure on them and forcing them into mistakes, which led to some easy baskets.”

After an intentional foul on PV with 44 seconds left, Zack Hnat made a free throw to tie the score. Fritz hit a shot off the glass to give the Colts a lead, and Agosti extended it with two more foul shots with 18 ticks to play.

Stilitino got it back to 61-60 with three free throws at the 15-second mark, but Ritsick hit one more to make it a two-point game again.

A three-point attempt by Panther Valley’s Blake White at the buzzer went off the back iron to seal the victory for the Colts.

“Well, that was a good eight minutes,” said Patton of his team’s 31 fourth-quarter points. “We have the capability of scoring, and I think when we start going, everyone feels comfortable ... It was a great team win. This is huge for the program and for the psyche of these guys.”

CLOSE OPENER ... Marian won the JV game, 53-45, in overtime. Chris Chambers had 26 points to lead the Colts.

CLIMBING THE LADDER ... Fritz passed Mark Makovec into fourth place on the team’s all-time scoring list. He now has 1,434 points.

SERIES LEAD ... This was the 99th meeting between the two programs. The Colts hold a slight 52-47 edge.

PV PRIDE ... The Panther received 17 points from both Marchorro and Stilitino, while Aaron Gutierrez added 15 points and nine rebounds.

MARIAN

L. Fritz 3-0-0-8, T. Fritz 4-13-14-21, Agosti 1-2-4-5, Chambers 0-0-0-0, Ritsick 7-1-2-19, Eroh 1-0-0-2, Malarkey 1-2-2-4, Hnat 1-1-2-3, Goff 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-19-24-62.

PANTHER VALLEY

Marchorro 7-0-0-17, Gutierrez 6-1-2-15, Stilitino 5-6-6-17, Krapf 1-0-2-3, Eidle 2-0-0-4, Hoben 1-0-0-2, White 1-0-1-2, Turner 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-7-11-60.

Marian 6 13 12 31 - 62

Panther Valley 11 12 14 23 - 60

Three-pointers: Marian - Ritsick 4, L. Fritz 2, Agosti 1; Panther Valley - Marchorro 3, Gutierrez 2, Stilitino 1, Krapf 1.