'Determination' sparks second half Marist comeback win, advances to region championship game
On the Thursday, the Marist War Eagles and Riverwood Raiders boys basketball teams met for the third time this season, however this time around, a trip to the Georgia High School Association Class 6A Region 4 championship was on the line. During the regular season, the Raiders won both meetings between the teams and on Thursday, the Raiders carried momentum from those wins into the start of the matchup as they got off to a 13-2 run to start the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Raiders would go up by as many 12 points and control the tempo throughout most of the period as they went into the locker room at the half leading Marist 34-25. However in the third quarter, the War Eagles would get a much needed offensive spark from senior, Luke Harpring as 13 of his 30 points would come in the third period as Marist would open up outscoring the Raiders 15-3 to take a 40-37 lead. And despite Riverwood finishing the quarter with a stronger performance, they still trailed 46-44 at the end of the quarter.
In the fourth and final quarter, the Raiders would battle back to regain the lead as a JR Leonard would give them a one point 56-55 lead, but the duo of Harpring, who had 21 second half points, and Owen Ritger (13 points) would prove to be difficult for the Raiders to overcome and Marist would go on to pick up the 64-58 win. “Great second half. Just determination out of some kids that we hadn’t seen for that extended period of time but every loose ball we got, every big rebound we got, we got stops when we needed to, we made shots when we needed to and they just fought for each other, which is what it’s all about,” Marist head coach, Josh Bauersfeld said after Thursday’s win.
