Marietta’s Zaiden Wittekind (20) goes strong to the hoop as Harvest Prep’s JaJuan Wharton (0) and Ephraim Campbell (35) defend during Wednesday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

After coughing up a 12-point first half lead the Marietta Tigers found themselves down by six midway through the fourth quarter and in need of a rally in Wednesday evening’s battle against Harvest Prep at Sutton Gymnasium.

The Tigers rallied big time as in a stretch of two minutes they reeled off 16 unanswered points and turned the six-point deficit into a double-digit 65-55 victory.

Marietta scored 20 of the final 24 points in the game to win for the 17th time in 20 games.

“We started good and then they got hot and we didn’t respond very well,” said MHS head coach Austin Gardner. “We somehow found a way to grind it out and it’s pretty awesome for our guys to do that on our home court.”

As has been the case for much of the season, the Tigers’ pressure defense gave their opponent all sorts of problems in the opening quarter as Marietta forced eight turnovers and jumped out to a 21-9 lead with a minute and a half to play in the first period.

Marietta’s Owen Riley (14) goes up for a basket during Wednesday’s game against Harvest Prep at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

A three-point play by the Warriors’ Paul Morrison and a two-pointer by JaJuan Wharton closed out the quarter and cut the Tiger lead to 22-14.

“We got them to turn the ball over and throw the ball around the gym a little bit in the first quarter,” said Gardner. “Defense to offense is our M.O. and we did that really well early on.”

The Tigers pushed the lead back to double-digits early in the second quarter on buckets by seniors Owen Riley, Zaiden Wittekind and Trey Hawkins before the Warriors began to handle the Marietta pressure and convert some easy buckets at the other end.

Morrison’s triple followed by buckets by Jaylin Johnson and Wharton cut the Tiger lead to three but Riley connected on a three-pointer for the home team to push the lead back to 31-25.

The Warriors finished the half strong though as Jamarcus Jones scored a two-pointer and Ephraim Campbell stole an inbound pass and fired it up the court to Wharton who laid it in to send Harvest Prep to the locker room trailing by just two at 31-29.

The Warriors took their very first lead of the game to begin the second half on a three-point play by Wharton before the two teams would trade the lead back and forth some 10 times in the third quarter alone.

Late in the third period a bucket by Jones extended the Warrior lead to three before the Tigers answered on a free throw by Braiden Plaugher and a two-pointer by Wittekind to knot the score at 42-42.

Harvest Prep would jump back in front on a Deyaire Adams triple and then extended their lead to five when Johnson beat the buzzer with a two-pointer.

The Tigers started the final quarter out strong as Logan Grosklos knocked down a triple but the Warriors quickly responded with back-to-back two-pointers by Adams to stretch their lead to a game-high six points with just over four minutes to play in the game.

Marietta found themselves in a shooting slump as they had made just 4-of-23 shots from behind the arc heading down the stretch.

After the two Adams buckets Gardner called for a timeout and laid it on the line to his team filled with senior leaders.

“I ripped a few guys and they probably rolled their eyes at me but it was a mental and a physical game,” said Gardner. “We were calm down the stretch — we played with urgency but there wasn’t any panic and that’s the sign of a good team.”

The Tigers responded to their coach’s lecture in the biggest way as they looked like a brand new team when they got back on the court.

Wittekind’s slashing drive to the basket resulted in a two-pointer to trim the lead to four and after a Tiger stop on defense on the other end Wittekind was at it again as he drained a triple from behind the top of the key to cut the lead to one.

After yet another stop on defense the Tigers worked the ball around passing up good shot after good shot until they found a wide open Lucas Miller who drained another triple to put them back in front with 2:50 to play in the game.

“Zaiden (Wittekind) and Lucas (Miller) hit those huge threes when we needed them the most,” said Gardner. “We got great ball movement and our guys are super capable of making shots and they did.”

Those three-pointers seemed to widen the hoop a little for Marietta and they spent a ton of time the rest of the quarter pulling away by making their shots at the charity stripe.

Both Wittekind and Hawkins made a pair of free throws to extend the lead to six before Wittekind drove to the bucket for two more.

As the Tigers got stop after stop on the defensive end they converted on the other end as they pulled away to the win.

Wittekind led the way for Marietta with 21 points including 11 in the final quarter while Riley completed a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Hawkins, playing for the first time in nearly a month after an injury, added nine while Grosklos finished with eight.

Harvest Prep (11-6) was led by Wharton with 17 points and Adams with 13 while Campbell led them in rebounds and assists with 13 and four respectively.

The game was not originally on the schedule but provided Gardner and his team with a playoff type of atmosphere and competition with the tournament just a few short weeks away.

“Obviously they are really good and that’s why you play these games,” said Gardner. “Shoutout to Harvest Prep and Coach (David) Dennis — he’s a tremendous coach and an even better person. They have got seven seniors and I expect them to make a deep run in the post season.”