VERONA, Mo. — A third straight district championship wasn’t meant to be for the College Heights Christian School boys basketball team.
Top-seeded Marionville finished strong for a 52-38 victory over second-seeded College Heights on Friday night in the championship game of the Class 2 District 12 tournament at Verona High School.
College Heights trailed by just four with five minutes to play, but Marionville closed the game on a 15-5 run to capture the district title.
Ranked sixth in Class 2 by the MBCA, Marionville improved to 26-2 and the Comets extended their winning streak to 16.
College Heights ends the season with a record of 23-6.
College Heights was looking to capture a third straight district championship. The Cougars beat Verona in last year’s title game after topping Liberal for the crown in ’21.
The Cougars got off to a great start, as the lower seed took a 10-4 lead. Senior forward Curtis Davenport scored eight of those 10 points, with classmate Ben Thomas adding one hoop.
But Marionville put together a 13-0 run to pull away for a 17-10 advantage. During the surge, Wil Carlton, Blane Young and Gage Guerin all hit 3-pointers for the Comets.
CHC’s Colsen Dickens knocked down a trey from the right corner to trim his team’s deficit to four at the end of the first quarter, 17-13.
The Comets outscored the Cougars 9-5 in the low-scoring second period. College Heights managed just two made field goals in the second quarter, a 3-pointer from Dickens and a short jumper from junior Caleb Quade, who battled foul trouble.
Marionville held a 26-18 cushion at halftime.
College Heights put together a 7-0 run in the third period, as Logan Decker made two free throws, Jayce Walker contributed a hoop and Thomas buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The two teams traded buckets before a hoop from Carlton gave the Comets a 33-27 lead.
There was a key swing in momentum at the end of the third quarter. Down six, College Heights missed a 3-pointer before Marionville’s Guerin banked in a buzzer-beating trey for a 36-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Cougars kept coming. Hoops from Quade, Davenport and Decker cut CHC’s deficit to four, 37-33, with 5:10 to play.
That’s when Marionville put together its game-ending 15-5 surge.
Young converted an old-fashioned 3-point play before Guerin made a trio of 3-pointers for a 49-36 advantage.
College Heights got hoops from Thomas and Quade, but free throws from Young accounted for the final score.
The 6-5 Davenport scored 11 points in his final outing for CHC. Also for the Cougars, Thomas scored seven, while Quade, Dickens and Decker added six points apiece. Walker rounded out the scoring with two points.
Three players scored all 52 of Marionville’s points.
A senior guard, Carlton scored a game-high 21 points for the Comets. A junior guard, Guerin scored 18 points on six 3-pointers. A senior guard, Taylor added 13 points.
With Friday’s win, Marionville advances to the sectional round of the Class 2 state tournament. The Comets will meet Crane at 6 p.m. on Monday at Carthage High School.
