Scoring was not easy to come by in Wednesday night's District 11 AA boys basketball semi final between Marian and Minersville.

The two Schuylkill League foes combined for just 21 first half points.Most basketball aficionados will tell you when scoring is scarce, the game usually comes down to which team can take better care of the ball.Unfortunately for Marian, it was the Miners that filled that role. Nine second half Colt turnovers were enough to help the Miners pull away for a 44-28 victory.This game did not get off to a hot start for either team. A week-and-a-half layoff could be the blame for the offensive struggles as both teams had solid scoring chances, but failed to convert those opportunities.At the end of one quarter, the score was just 6-5 in the Miners favor. The scoring didn't pick up much in the second quarter, as Minersville built a 16-9 halftime lead."We talked about how happy we were at halftime to have only given up 15 points defensively, but how disappointed we were to put up just nine points offensively," said Marian coach John Patton. "There's really not much you can say about that. We just struggled offensively."We tried everything, we just couldn't get anything going."The Miners on the other hand were able to finally generate some offense in the second half, outscoring the Colts 29-19.The difference in the game came at the start of the third quarter. A 7-0 run, which seemed like a 20-point run with the teams struggling like they were offensively, gave Minersville a 23-9 advantage at the 4:54 mark in the third.The Colts actually clawed back to get within seven when Hunter Puza stole a Minersville pass in the backcourt and converted.But on the ensuing possession a huge three-pointer by the Miners' Kei'Dre Taylor pushed the Minersville lead 30-20 heading into the fourth quarter."The offense we run, we really try to spread people out, it's really like a five man motion offense and we were able to have some success with that in the second half," said Minersville head coach Cliff Woodruff. "In the fourth quarter, we really took care of the ball and did a good job of executing our sets and that helped us persevere."The Miners were then able to pull away in the fourth. A Chris Leshko inside bucket gave the Miners a 13-point lead halfway through the fourth and the Colts could never recover.A big reason for that was turnovers. The Colts had 17 on the night, while the Miners committed just nine."I think the difference from the last time we played these guys was that we applied some more pressure in the backcourt and in the half court as well, said Woodruff. "We worried about their size advantage, so we wanted to make them start their offense above the three-point line."Our kids did a good job defensively all night long."MINERS DUO ... The Colts did a great job of defending Minersville's two leading scorers Chris Leshko and David Graham holding them to nine and eight points respectively.LACK OF OFFENSE ... The layoff appeared to hurt both offenses, as not one player from either team was in double figures.THE THREE BALL ... Minersville was able to knock down some shots from the outside, as 15 of its 44 points came from three-point range, including its first nine points of the game.MARIANCortes 0-0-0-0, Woitko 0-2-2-2, Puza 3-1-2-8, Karchner 0-0-0-0, Kuczynski 1-0-0-2, DeAngelo 1-0-0-2, Mohammed 3-2-3-8, Paluck 1-0-32, Mummey 0-0-0-0, Inama 2-0-0-4, Collevechio 0-0-0-0. Totals 11-5-10-28.MINERSVILLESnyder 0-0-0-0, Brennan 0-0-1-0, Leshko 3-2-4-9, Woodford 0-0-0-0, Rinaldo 0-0-0-0, Fekette 1-0-0-2, Wollyung 1-2-2-5, Hoffman 2 -0-0-6, Taylor 2-2-3-7, Stoppie 2-3-4-7, Graham 3-2-2-8. Totals 14-11-16-44.Marian 5 4 11 8 - 28Minersville 6 9 15 14 - 44Three-pointers: Marian - Puza 1 - Minersville - Hoffman 2, Leshko 1, Wollyung 1, Taylor 1.