POTTSVILLE - A lot of things continued to trend in the same direction for Marian during its PIAA Class 2A first-round clash with Masterman on Saturday.

For the third straight postseason game, the Colts started slow and sloppy, which caused them to trail early on.And for the third straight postseason game, Marian mounted a serious comeback.The Colts finally gained their first lead of the game with 3:25 left in the third period, when Noah Stauffer alertly swiped the Masterman inbound pass and casually laid the ball in.Unfortunately for the Colts, their opportunity to complete a hat trick of gutsy comebacks came up short. Marian's brief lead only lasted two minutes, and the Blue Dragons eventually pulled away in the final frame for a 70-62 state playoff win."That steal put us up two and we were on our way," said Marian head coach John Patton, whose team committed 18 turnovers. "We just couldn't get those shots to fall. Shots that went in last week, two weeks ago, we didn't get today. That's a credit to the kind of defense that they play. They don't go deep, but they go hard. They disrupted a lot of our passes and knocked us off our sets."The Dragons opened up the game on an 8-2 spurt. But like they've done all season, the Colts rallied back. Brandon Mohammed picked up his second foul with 3:01 left in the initial period, but the Colts collectively chipped in to keep the gap at five at intermission. DJ Mummey and Tyler Fritz each had a pair of threes in the first half, and Ryan Karchner had seven at the break. Despite the foul trouble and limited playing time, Mohammed led the Colts with 16 points."Brandon's two fouls early hurt us, which put us behind the eight ball and made it hard to get him into the game," Patton said. "But the guys that come off the bench gave us quality minutes and did a great job."We were able to get back into it. We're resilient. We have guys that have been through situations like this and they know what it takes."The Colts went on a 7-2 run after intermission and the pressure was on.After Stauffer's scoop and score that put the Colts ahead for a few minutes, Masterman jumped right back out with a 9-3 spurt, which continued into the final quarter."We played with a lot of heart and gave a lot of energy," said Masterman head coach Timothy Roache. "This has been this team all year; they just refuse to lose. This is a gritty bunch of seniors."A defensive tweak seemed to spark the Dragons in the second half. Roache extended his 2-3 zone, which forced a lot of trapping in the corners, and threw off the Marian offense and made it difficult to get off any open looks."We kept them from hitting their threes," the Masterman coach said. "Our goal was to not let them beat us from the perimeter. I saw them play against Shenandoah Valley, and we didn't want to get beat like that. Our defense was key. I felt like we played a good defensive game."And on the other side of the ball, the two leading scorers in Masterman school history started to get what they wanted late in the contest.Point guard Liam Shanahan, who has over 1,800 career points, was able to run-and-gun, while big man Jesse Turkson, who has netted 1,600 career points, had some convenient looks in the post. Shanahan scored 12 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to help close out the contest."Jesse (Turkson) got some more touches in the fourth quarter and my point guard Liam Shanahan got in transition," said Roache. "They were taking his (Shanahan's) shot away early, so that was a difference.IT'S BEEN FUN … The Colts will say goodbye to eight seniors: Karchner, Mohammed, Sean Choley, Jarod Paisley, Brad Lentz, Jake Paluck, and Anthony Collevechio. "We had a lot of guys buy into it this year and put the time into it," said Patton. "We went through most of the season up until the Blue Mountain game without many injuries and that is key. We were able to put a run together, and they'll forever be linked together on the walls of Marian."MAKING PROGRESS … Last year was the first time that Masterman ever made the state tournament. The Dragons were bounced early, but seem confident to make a run this season. Masterman has nine seniors, all of which will attend Ivy League schools next year. "We came to states last year for the first time in team history," said the Materman coach. "I thought we were just happy to be here. There was a different feeling in the locker room before today's game. We thought this was our time."MASTERMANPerson 0-0-0-0, Shanahan 7-10-11-24, Brooks 2-0-0-5, Scott 1-0-0-3, Williams 7-0-3-15, Turkson 4-7-11-15, Stewart 4-0-1-8. TOTALS: 25-17-26-70.MARIANKarchner 5-2-3-12, Mohammed 6-4-6-16, Mummey 4-0-2-11, Stauffer 1-0-0-2, Fritz 3-2-2-11, Paisley 1-4-5-6, Collevechio 0-0-0-0, Paluck 2-0-0-4, McLaughlin 0-0-0-0, Choley 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-12-18-62.Masterman 17 18 13 22 - 70Marian 14 16 16 16 - 62Three-poiners: Masterman - Brooks 1, Scott 1, Williams 1; Marian Mummey 3, Fritz 3.