Marietta's Trey Hawkins (5) pulls up for a jumper as Fort Frye's Kainan Bradford (24) contests during Thursday's game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Junior Bass’s time as a Marietta Tiger basketball player is quickly coming to an end but the Tiger senior has done everything in his power to make an impact in his only season in the orange and black.

Thursday night Bass led Marietta with 18 points and 11 rebounds as they hung a 60-36 loss on the Fort Frye Cadets in a Twin State League tussle to improve to 8-1 on the season.

Bass transferred from Belpre prior to the season and is only eligible to play 11 games, which leaves him with just two more to go.

“Junior has earned everything and he makes me smile because he has become the best leader that we have,” said third-year Marietta head coach Austin Gardner. “He holds guys accountable and he works extremely hard and he sets the tone. He’s playing like it’s his last two games but honestly he’s played like that the whole year.”

The Cadets proved to be no match for the 6-foot-3 Bass as he did all of his damage on just 12 shots from the field, making eight.

Fort Frye's Chatum Courson (2) goes up for a shot as Marietta's Junior Bass looks on during Thursday's game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

“My teammates were helping me out getting me the ball down there and helping me crash the boards,” said Bass. “Coach (Gardner) pushes me to the limit and teaches me and I feel like I am getting better every single day.”

The Tigers jumped out to a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and it would be junior Zaiden Wittekind leading the way with a pair of first quarter triples.

A bucket by junior Trey Hawkins opened the second quarter before Bass made his presence felt in a big way.

A two-pointer by Bass off of an assist from senior Seth Britton was followed by another Bass field goal in transition.

Bass got into the giving mode of his own as he assisted Hawkins on an easy basket inside to stretch the Tiger lead to 24-12.

Britton’s rebound and putback for two gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the half at 26-12 before the Eric Henniger-coached Cadets rallied in the closing minute of the half to cut the lead to 29-18 at the break.

Both Treven Nicholson and Grady Hesson knocked down three-pointers in the final 60 seconds of the half.

The Tigers won the third period by a 9-6 margin to increase their lead to 14 but the Cadets got off to a good start in the final period on a Nicholson two-pointer.

Marietta saved its best for last however, scoring the next 16 points to blow things wide open.

As he was all game long, Bass made quite an impact as he scored three more field goals during the run while dishing out another assist to Brayden Jones.

“I think we share the ball really well and I love my whole entire team,” said Bass. “They are great teammates and the way we work together is great.”

After a lack of practice due to the snow, Gardner was pleased to see his team play its best basketball in the final quarter.

“The fourth quarter with our starting group we pressured the ball and got out in transition,” said Gardner. “We played Tiger basketball and played at a championship level.”

Joining Bass in double figures for the winners was Wittekind with 11 points and Hawkins with 10.

Marietta out-rebounded the Cadets by a healthy 30-16 margin and committed just five turnovers in the game compared to 19 by the Cadets.

Clayton Miller was the only Cadet to score more than four points in the game as he led the Fort with an even dozen.

Fort Frye slipped to 4-6 overall and 0-3 in TSL play with the loss.

The Tigers improved to 8-1 with the win and a perfect 3-0 record in Twin State League action with a showdown rematch with arch-rival Warren coming up on Monday in Vincent.

“It’s going to take team work and working together,” said Bass on the upcoming matchup with Warren. “We were able to do it once so I feel like maybe we can do it again.”