Patriots to play for State Title
Marion will face Jonesboro for 5A basketball championship
By CHUCK LIVINGSTON
Marion School District
SHERIDAN — Coach David Clark has orchestrated some potent offenses in his four seasons at Marion, but his team’s path to victory this season has relied on defensive intensity and effort.
During the Class 5A state tournament here at Yellowjacket Arena last week, Clark’s Patriots rose to the occasion.
The latest example came in Saturday’s semifinal victory against Lake Hamilton when Marion ground the Wolves into dust.
The Patriots (25-7 overall) limited Lake Hamilton (23-7) to five of 21 shooting in the first half and forced 10 turnovers after the break to pull away for a 64-46 victory that catapults Marion into the state final for the third time in school history (1993, 2019).
“Our kids played hard, and fought through adversity all year,” said Clark following the Lake Hamilton game. “The cohesiveness and continuity of the team is just coming together right now, and we feel like we’re peaking at the right time.”
Marion will play Jonesboro at 1:45 on Thursday afternoon for the Class 5A state championship. It will be the third meeting between the schools this year, with Marion searching for its first victory against Jonesboro since the 2020 regular- season finale.
The state championship game will not be streamed live on MarionPatriots. com, as the AAA has an exclusive contract with PBS. The game will be shown on AETN, and you can listen to the game on 92.5 FM.
The Patriots never trailed against Lake Hamilton, scoring eight of the game’s first 10 points. Marion took the lead for good when Donte Moore scored a layup with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter for a 4-2 Patriot advantage.
That’s when junior cousins Ryan and Jayden Forrest took over, combining to score 13 straight Marion points. Ryan Forrest gave the Pats a 17-12 lead with 5:54 left in the second quarter with a highlight- reel dunk from the baseline, and the Pats led 23-18 at halftime.
In the first half, Marion kept Lake Hamilton from scoring for more than four minutes in the first quarter and for almost three minutes in the second stanza.
“We just wanted to lock in on defense because we know when we lock in on defense we know the offense will come,” said Ryan Forrest. “We knew they wanted to take charges, so we had to pay attention to that.”
Lake Hamilton tied the game at 25 midway through the third quarter before Ryan Forrest scored a layup following an offensive rebound, and Jayden Forrest found Moore for another layup, and a five-point Marion advantage. The Pats led 39-32 after three quarters.
With the game hanging in the balance in the fourth quarter, Marion connected on 14 of 18 free-throw attempts to put Lake Hamilton away.
A Donnie Cheers layup gave Marion its first 10-point lead (49-39) of the day with 4:10 left in regulation.
Marion’s lead was 51-41 when the Wolves started fouling, but the Pats responded by making 11 of their final 14 charities, including their last eight.
Jayden and Ryan Forrest each hit for a game-high 21 points to power the Patriot attack, while Moore poured in six.
Are you ready for the rematch? The Marion Patriots and Jonesboro Golden Hurricane will meet for the third time this season, this time for the 5A Boys Basketball State Championship.
