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Stadelman’s 34 lifts Warriors past Tigers, 77-59

Warren's Julian Stadelman (00) handles the ball as Marietta's Trey Hawkins defends during Monday's game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

VINCENT — Warren head coach Blane Maddox is running out of adjectives to describe Julian Stadelman.

The senior point guard has had countless big games over the last four seasons, and he added to that list Monday night in the Warriors’ 77-59 win over rival Marietta at Warrior Coliseum.

Stadelman scored a career-high 34 points, including 13 in the pivotal second quarter where Warren outscored the Tigers 24-9.

“Julian, geez, golly — incredible,” said Maddox, whose team avenged a 62-56 loss to the Tigers earlier in the season. “Man, just incredible. He’s had so many (big games). We take him for granted. I think everybody takes him for granted. He’s improved his defense tremendously. He loves his teammates. The boy can score.”

Warren had to shake off a rough start to the game, trailing 15-3 with a minute to go in the first quarter. The Warriors trimmed it to 20-16 with 4:38 to go in the second period, at which point Stadelman had five points. He then scored six straight to give the Warriors their first lead of the night at 22-20, and later hit a pair of 3-pointers to help give WHS a 33-26 halftime advantage.

Warren's Chase Lupardus (5) goes up for a basket as Marietta's Juniors Bass defends during Monday's game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

“This win was really big for us,” said Stadelman, who added four assists and four steals to his statline. “My 3-ball was hitting tonight. Last time we played them my 3-ball wasn’t really going, but tonight I was hitting them from deep. That played a big role.”

Stadelman kept his foot on the gas pedal, hitting two more 3s in the first three minutes of the second as Warren’s lead grew to double figures. His fourth 3-pointer of the game made it 41-28 at the 5:01 mark in the third.

The Warriors, now 8-2 with a trip to Fort Frye slated for Thursday, led by as many as 24. The Tigers, also 8-2 with a home bout against Point Pleasant Thursday, got back within 13, 64-51, with 2:55 left in the game on two free throws by Zaiden Wittekind, but ran out of steam.

With 2:30 to go, Stadelman drove to the basket to reach 30 points.

“We just had a lot of grit,” Stadelman said. “Most of the game (the Tigers) were not comfortable. They did have a nice start, I’ll give them that, but our defense throughout the entire game was really nice and it made them really uncomfortable.”

Marietta's Junior Bass, left, handles the ball as Warren's Chase Lupardus defends during Monday's game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

The score was just 4-3 four-and-a-half minutes into the contest when the Tigers caught fire from deep. Wittekind and Brayden Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and after a basket by Junior Bass, Braiden Plaugher added another 3-ball to make it 15-3.

Warren answered with a 6-0 run, and after trailing 19-9 two minutes into the second, outscored Marietta 68-40 the rest of the way.

“They made shots and we didn’t,” said MHS head coach Austin Gardner. “We had some mojo at the beginning and played with some swagger. We felt comfortable, and then for whatever reason, I felt like we weren’t confident. Warren made their run and we gave up some offensive rebounds that gave them some opportunities for second-chance points.”

Bass led the Tigers with 16 points and six rebounds. Trey Hawkins added 10 points while Wittekind contributed seven points, six boards, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

“They kept scoring on us,” Gardner said. “We didn’t have an answer for many of their guys. They played their best game of the year and we, quite frankly, played probably our worst. It is what it is. Warren played well. Our guys are crushed, but they’ll respond (Tuesday) in practice. I told them it’s one 32-minute game and it doesn’t dictate the rest of our season.

Marietta's Owen Riley, left, handles the ball as Warren's Tyson Cochran defends during Monday's game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

For Warren, it was far from a one-man show. Chase Lupardus double-doubled, scoring 12 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Hayden Wells added nine boards as Warren out-rebounded Marietta 38-24. The Warriors shot nearly 60% (28 for 47) from the floor.

Colin Anthony, Tyson Cochran, Nick Cressey and AJ Criss all gave Warren big minutes off the bench.

“You had Colin Anthony coming in there and playing well,” Maddox said. “The whole bench — Cochran, AJ settled us down and helped us handle the ball some, Cressey does Cressey things. Just proud of the bench.

“Lupardus finally settled down and said ‘I’m going to take care of some business underneath.’ How about Wells’ defense on everybody we put him on, and his rebounding? Just a fantastic team effort.”

When the Warriors have that many guys playing at a high level, they’re going to be tough to beat. Make no mistake, though — few players in the state can impact a game the way Stadelman can.

“Julian’s not playing just one guy,” Maddox pointed out. “There’s double teams on every ball screen. There’s bumps from every direction. There’s two-and-a-half men looking at him. He has no problem getting through two — it’s the third guy that sometimes throws him off. We love him. What a scorer. He takes over the game.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.

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