Marion boys basketball team stuns Bowler after big comeback

The Marion High School boys basketball team overcame a 17-point second half deficit and topped Bowler 64-63 in a Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division thriller on Jan. 17 in Marion.

The furious comeback kept Marion atop the conference standings. The Mustangs are now 5-0 in CWC-North games and are the only conference team without a loss.

While Marion’s comeback efforts didn’t begin until about five minutes into the second half, senior Ryan Malueg said it was a halftime message that woke the team up.

“We had a coach tell us that we have to come out and we have to want it,” said Malueg. “In the first half, they wanted it more than us. We had to come out and get it more. We obviously showed that we wanted it more.”

“Just get rid of the first half and start a new game in the second half,” said Marion’s Izan Bueno. “We came out flat-footed in the first half.”

Bowler led 39-30 at halftime and then scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half to grab a 49-32 advantage.

Malueg got Marion going with a couple baskets, including a 3-pointer. Parker Miller tallied the next couple baskets to get the team back within single digits, 49-41.

After Bowler missed a free throw, Bueno hit a shot to cap a 11-0 Mustang run.

Beau Brunner stopped a six-plus-minute scoring drought for Bowler with a basket, but Marion scored the next seven points to get back within a single point. Miller and Malueg made shots before Miller converted an and-one.

Bowler appeared to settle back in after a bucket from Emmitt Kietlinski and free throw from Tristan Thiex, but a 7-0 run from Malueg alone powered Marion to a three-point lead, 57-54, with 3:06 to play.

Malueg hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the hosts the lead before making a free throw.

“The first one (3-pointer) went in and then the confidence starting going up,” said Malueg.

Kietlinski continued his big game with a clutch three-point play to tie things up with 2:49 to play, and then made another shot with just over two minutes to play to give Bowler the lead back. His second basket gave him 1,000 career high school points.

“It was really special,” said Kietlinski of the milestone. “When you’re a freshman and sophomore, you never even think about getting there, it never even really crosses your mind. Then as you get older, like the start of senior year, it gave me something to look forward to the whole year and I was excited for that.”

Malueg continued his red-hot shooting with a 3-pointer to give Marion a 60-59 lead with about 1:45 to play.

Bowler’s Damian Terrio scored the game’s next basket, setting off a wild final minute of play.

Marion missed on the ensuing possession, but Malueg converted a second-chance opportunity to push the Mustangs back ahead with about 40 seconds to play. Fifteen seconds later, Kietlinski scored to propel the visiting Panthers back ahead.

The hero of the game turned out to be Bueno, who hit a floater from near the free throw line with roughly 14 seconds to play.

Marion then turned away a couple Bowler opportunities in the closing seconds to finish off the entertaining contest.

“We were really hyped up thanks to the crowd and to the band, we were just really high. We’re so excited to keep going and keep winning,” said Bueno.

Malueg ended up hitting five 3-pointers in the contest to score a team-leading 24 points for Marion. Bueno and Miller had 13 points each, while Sam Gueths chipped in seven points.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 10-4 lead early on before Bowler took control.

Kietlinski led the Panthers’ first-half charge, scoring 15 points. He finished with a game-high 26 points.

“Well, we played really well in stretches, and really well in that stretch (at the start of the second half), but then they made a really good run on us and we got really cold,” said Kietlinski. “We couldn’t really do anything, and they took advantage. Just a lot of missed opportunities by us.”

Even though Bowler was handed its second conference loss, Kietlinski is still convinced that the Panthers can win the conference title. Bowler and Marion will match up again on Feb. 23 in the regular season finale.

Brunner also had a strong first-half showing for Bowler, scoring nine of his 11 points in the first 18 minutes.

Thiex finished with 10 points in the game, while Danian Schultz added eight and Terrio had six.

Bowler 39 24 — 63

Marion 30 34 — 64

Marion (64): Jack Van Kooy 1-4 5, Jaden Stuhr 0-0 2, Izan Bueno 0-0 13, Sam Gueths 1-2 7, Ryan Malueg 1-2 24, Parker Miller 3-3 13.

Bowler (63): Danian Schultz 0-0 8, Connor Kaquatosh 0-2 2, Emmitt Kietlinski 4-5 26, Beau Brunner 2-3 11, Tristan Thiex 2-4 10, Damian Terrio 0-1 6.

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