The Marion Warriors will square off against the Herington Railroaders at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Marion is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.2 points per game this season.
Having struggled with six defeats in a row, Marion turned things around against Inman on Friday. They came out on top against the Inman Teutons by a score of 58-43 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game).
| 01/17/25 vs Inman | 12 |
| 01/14/25 vs Bennington | 11 |
| 01/13/25 @ Trinity | 8 |
| 12/16/24 @ Canton-Galva | 11 |
| 12/14/24 vs Halstead | 11 |
Marion's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jackson Howard led the charge by dropping a double-double on 15 points and 12 rebounds. Howard is on a roll when it comes to boards, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last five games he's played. Another player making a difference was Luke Wessel, who went 7 of 16 en route to 19 points and four steals.
Marion was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 62-23, which was the final score in Herington's tilt against Solomon on Friday.
Marion will have to contain Mason Mortensen as he made an impact in Herington's last game. He posted nine points and three steals. That was a full 39.1% of Herington's points, marking the fifth time in a row he's put up more than a third of the team's points.
Herington's loss dropped their record down to 2-6. As for Marion, their win was their first in the district, bumping their district record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 3-6.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Marion has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 28.2 boards per game. However, it's not like Herington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 22.6 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Marion didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Herington in their previous matchup back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 56-50 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Marion since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
