Warren’s Nick Cressey makes a move with the ball as Marietta’s Seth Britton defends during Friday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

The Marietta Tigers built a 12-point second half lead and then survived a furious fourth-quarter rally to down the Warren Warriors 62-56 in front of a jam-packed crowd Friday night at Sutton Gymnasium.

The Tigers got key contributions from all nine players that got into the game to claim their second Twin State League win of the week, and it took all nine to get the job done against the Warriors.

“I thought our guys played tough and I thought we stuck to our game plan well,” said MHS head coach Austin Gardner. “I’m pleased with how we have improved without having that much time to practice together, and just really proud of them.”

Warren trimmed the 12-point margin to just one in the final quarter, but the Tigers never gave up serve and hung on for the win.

Warren led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter but the Tigers started to heat up from the perimeter in the second quarter and quickly took the lead.

Marietta’s Lucas Miller, right, handles the ball as Warren’s Tyson Cochran defends during Friday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Back-to-back triples by Logan Grosklos and Zaiden Wittekind gave the Tigers a four-point lead. After a Chase Lupardus bucket for Warren, Brayden Jones and Braiden Plaugher rang the bell from long distance for Marietta to give the Tigers an eight-point advantage and bring the crowd to its feet.

After Lupardus yanked down one of his game-high nine rebounds and put it back up and in for the Warriors, Plaugher connected once again from behind the arc to give the Tigers a 27-18 lead.

The visitors managed to whittle the lead down to six, but with just seconds remaining on the clock, Tiger junior Trey Hawkins knocked down the Tigers sixth triple of the quarter to push the lead back out to nine.

Warren caught a bit of a break when Julian Stadelman was fouled as he attempted to get off a desperation length of the court heave at the buzzer.

With the Warriors in the bonus, Stadelman was allowed to shoot a pair of free throws to close out the half. He converted both to trim the lead to 33-26 at the break.

It didn’t take the Tigers long at all to build their lead in the third quarter as Seth Britton scored off of a great pass from Wittekind, who then canned a three-pointer on the Tigers’ next possession to extend the lead to a dozen.

The Tiger defense had done a pretty decent job on Stadelman, who had scored just nine points heading into the second half of the third quarter.

The Warrior senior standout began to show some life as he scored seven points in the final three minutes of the period as Warren closed the lead to six heading to the final quarter.

A two-pointer by Nick Cressey opened the fourth for Warren, but Marietta had an answer on a drive to the bucket and finish by junior Lucas Miller.

Stadelman responded with a slashing bucket of his own, and after a Tiger turnover, he canned a three-pointer as the MHS lead had shrunk to a single point at 49-48 with five minutes to play in the game.

The game kind of had the feel that if the Warriors ever got even or took the lead they might be able to steal one away from the Tigers, but to the Tigers’ credit, they simply would not allow that to happen.

A bucket by senior Junior Bass off of an assist by Miller pushed the lead back to three. After Stadleman made one-of-two at the charity stripe, Miller drove to the basket once again for a pair.

“We dug a pretty big hole and I was proud of the way we came back,” said Warren head coach Blane Maddox, in his 26th season. “If we could have gotten a couple of buckets here and there and got the lead it might have been different but credit to Marietta. They hung in there and got the win at home.”

The Tigers finished the game with 10 3-pointers, but none bigger than a triple by Jones that extended the lead back to seven with 2:25 to play.

Warren managed to get the lead down to four on three separate occasions in the closing minutes but could get no closer the rest of the way.

A two-pointer by Stadelman with 20 seconds to play cut the lead to four, but the Tigers were able to hang on and win as the student section flooded onto the court after the final buzzer.

“You know Warren is going to make a run and Stadelman is just a great player,” said Gardner. “You put guys in a one-on-one situation and I thought Lucas Miller and Trey Hawkins did a great job making it as tough as possible on them.”

Wittekind led a very balanced attack for the winners with 13 points while Jones added 12.

Tiger big men Bass and Plaugher added nine each while Miller added eight including a couple of big ones down the stretch.

Hawkins tallied six points while dishing out seven assists and leading the Tigers with five steals.

Stadelman led the way for Warren with 27 points, including 18 in the final half.

He was joined in double figures by Cressey and Lupardus with 10 points respectively.

Maddox felt his team left it all on the court but just came up a few plays short.

“Julian did a great job and really battled and kept us in the game,” said Maddox. “We need some other guys to step up and just needed one more scorer tonight.”

The win capped a big first week for Marietta basketball as both the Tigers boys and girls teams won both of their games against Fort Frye and Warren to open the season.

Picking up a win in front of an electric crowd like the one at Sutton Gym should do nothing but add confidence to a Tiger team already beaming with it.

“This is what high school basketball is all about. Obviously you want to win these games, but you remember the atmosphere win or lose,” said Gardner. “They will remember this and carry it with them for a lifetime. The student section and the crowd in general made it a special atmosphere so it made it a pretty cool night for our kids.”

The Tigers will get little time to rest on their laurels as they are right back in action Tuesday evening at home against a very good New Philadelphia team.

“We can celebrate this but not for long because we have got New Philly Tuesday and they are really good,” said Gardner. “We’ve got to get back to work on Sunday because they are going to come in here and try to steal one.”