Patriots flirt with shocking upset

Patriots flirt with shocking upset

The Marion Patriots played top- seeded El Dorado to the wire in last weeks state quarterfinal season- ending loss

Special to The Times PEARCY — As the game got later and later, with the outcome in question all the way, assembled Marion backers tried to will their Patriots to a quarterfinal stunner at Wolf Arena against El Dorado.

The Pats (14-14 overall) took a late 45-44 lead, but couldn't get over the hump against the Wildcats (27-4 overall), the No. 1 seed from the Class 6A-South, who won 57-53.

'I was just telling the guys that we have nothing to be ashamed of, because we left everything out there on the floor and played as hard as we possibly could play,' said veteran Marion head coach Irving Clay. 'That's the thing about basketball, somebody has to lose and somebody has to win. It was their turn today.'

Marion's gameplan revolved around challenging El Dorado's 6-foot-10inch postman, University of Arkansas commit Daniel Gafford, who finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Gafford went to bench midway through the second quarter with his third foul, and did not re-enter the game until there was 1:39 left in the third quarter.

'That was something we'd talked about, because he does so many things for their team,' Clay explained. 'When he's on the court, he's a threat to score, rebound, block your shots all of that. With him on the bench, it frees us up to run our offense.'

Gafford's absence allowed the smaller Patriots to outrebound the Wildcats 3428, highlighted by 14 offensive boards, which led directly to 15 secondchance points for Marion.

El Dorado immediately jumped out to leads of 102 and 19-10 following the first quarter. The Wildcats extended their lead to 11 points, 31-20 at halftime.

The third quarter saw Marion knock down five of their 12 free throw attempts, while collecting seven offensive rebounds without Gafford on the floor to get within 40-35 after three frames.

That set up a dramatic fourth quarter that featured three lead changes and three ties.

Marion junior guard Martinez Harper (eight points) split a pair of free throws to give the Pats that 45-44 lead with 4:38 remaining.

El Dorado's Czar Perry (24 points) answered with a layup on the ensuing possession to put the Wildcats back in the lead with 4:09 in regulation.

Perry canned a pair of foul shots to give El Dorado a 48-45 lead on his team's next possession, which induced a Marion timeout.

Out of the stoppage, Marion senior guard Collin Chambers scored on a layup to bring the Pats within a point.

Perry split a pair of charities with 3:02 remaining for a two-point Wildcat advantage.

Marion senior Shaun Doss, who scored 24 points, tied the score with 2:40 left.

Doss would tie it in the paint again at 51 with another bucket.

Gafford put his team back ahead at 53-51 with a pair of foul shots, to which Doss answered with a pair of his own to make it 5353 with 1:12 left.

Perry split a pair of free throws for a 54-53 lead with 1:01 on the clock, but when Marion's Kamari Marrs (eight points, nine rebounds) collected the board, the Pats had a chance to pull a shocker.

Coming out of a timeout, Marion got the ball to Doss, but the guard looked to be knocked to the ground before losing possession of the ball. Gafford collected the lost ball and called timeout to get the ball with 10 seconds remaining.

Perry again hit one out of two fouls, and Doss pulled up for a three-pointer that would have given Marion the lead with less than eight seconds left, but the shot missed and El Dorado's Ryu Unice (10 points) drilled a pair of free throws to clinch the final.

By Chuck Livingston