Marian came back. Twice.

The Colts erased an eight-point halftime deficit against Moravian Academy in the first round of the District 11 2A playoffs. After two heroic last-second shots, Marian eventually escaped in double overtime.In the 2A title game, the Colts trailed by as much as 15 points in the first half. However, something clicked for Marian in the second half as the Colts (21-4) shot the lights out and claimed a 59-51 win against Shenandoah Valley."We didn't rebound really well in the first half and we had some bad possessions," said Marian head coach John Patton. "The fact that we played so many guys helped us. I think (Jarod) Paisley said it best, once one guy made it we felt like we could shoot the ball."When you have a lead, and you give it up, it's hard to shoot the ball. We were kind of loose, down by 15 at one point."On Saturday at Martz Hall, the Colts will have to play four full quarters against Masterman (20-5), the third seed out of District 12."They haven't played in like three weeks, so it's hard to figure out where to go for information because they're already done," Patton said earlier in the week. "We'll do some searching around and see what we can find, but it's not easy. We don't know much about them."Masterman is led by two senior captains, Liam Shanahan and Jesse Turkson, who both average over 20 points per game. Shanahan exploded for 34 points during Masterman's most recent playoff victory over Motivation."They have a little bit of everything," the Marian coach said. "They usually play about six kids, so we're hoping to take advantage of that. They wouldn't be here if they weren't good. That's the approach we're taking."The Colts' frontcourt might have its hands full as Turkson and fellow 6-4 forward Korey Stewart combine to average around 18 rebounds per game."Brandon (Mohammed) played some good minutes, and some other guys picked up the slack," Patton said. "He's obviously the most dominant player we have on the court."But again, we need to come out and get a better start. We need to have good offensive possessions early on. We tend to have been living on the edge with getting behind. The deeper you get into the playoffs, the harder it is to do that."The Colts normal starting lineup consists of Tyler Fritz (10.4 ppg) and Noah Stauffer (6.8 ppg) at the guard positions with Jarod Paisley (6.6 ppg) and Ryan Karchner (7.4 ppg) joining Mohammed (15.8 ppg) in the frontcourt.During both District 11 playoffs games, Patton used a nine-man rotation, bringing Anthony Collevechio, Jake Paluck, D.J. Mummey and Mike McLaughlin off the bench. Patton substituted liberally in both games, allowing the Colts to stay fresh."At this point, we've have a rotation. We basically start the same guys and we've have guys who come in based on the situation," Patton said. Collevechio and McLaughlin fill the role of defensive stoppers while Mummey is the designated scorer, hitting three-pointers in both of Marian's playoff victories. Paluck is the top frontcourt reserve, providing rebounding and solid post defense.Marian, which has qualified for the district playoffs 12 straight seasons, will be making its fifth state tournament appearance during that stretch. The Colts' last visit to the state playoffs was in 2011.