Hardwood Heroes Sports
Meigs Marauders Escape with a Victory over Wellston Behind Clutch Free-Throws
By: Nick Henthorn
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The most important trait for a basketball team. Athleticism? Shooting? Basketball IQ?
Maybe.
But Friday, as the Meigs Marauders took down the Wellston Golden Rockets 58-50, the trait that secured the victory was trust.
Trust in senior Cory Cox to hit his free throws.
“Coach always has us shoot free throws in practice; 20, 30, 40, 50 free throws a practice,” Cox said after the game. “So it was pretty easy, pretty calm.”
It was Cox’s four free throws in six tries in the last minute of the game that sealed the win, as Meigs escaped with the victory despite a tremendous comeback effort from Wellston in the final frame of play, led by Evan Brown, who finished with 15 points.
Cox rewarded his team’s trust Friday; a trust that the Marauders have worked to build throughout the season.
“Well I’m going to be perfectly honest with you,” Meigs head coach Jeremy Hill said after the game. “When you put together a ball club and your evaluation is a continual thing; a lot of the kids down there didn’t have my respect or trust. But I’m gaining it […] and I’m gaining trust in them and I think that they’re gaining trust in each other.”
For Meigs, Weston Baer led the team in scoring with 20, while Cox and Coulter Cleland both finished with nine. Cleland also collected eight vitally needed rebounds in a game where the Marauder’s big man, Bobby Musser, fouled out in the middle of the fourth.
To exacerbate the issue of a lack of size, Meigs’ starting forward Wyatt Hoover sat out of the game with a knee injury that he had been playing on for the last few games. Whether Hoover will be able to return to the lineup this season is up in the air. He is one of several Meigs players that have dealt with ailments this season.
“We’ve got some kids that are coming back from strep throat. We’ve got kids coming back from flu,” Hill said. “We’re not playing at the top of our game, but tonight it didn’t matter, we just grinded and grinded and got the win.”
The victory brings Meigs to 7-8 on the year, in a season filled with tough losses. The Marauders have lost four games this season by two points apiece. This game, though, it was Meigs coming out of a close one on top.
“It feels good,” Cox said when asked about his team’s decisive victory. “Feels good to be on the other side of it, be able to win the close one finally.”
“We’re alright,” Hill said. “And we’re gonna be a ball club that everybody better come and play.”