Marian's back was against the wall the last few weeks as the Colts seemed to be on the outside looking in at a District 11 playoff berth.

Coming into its Schuylkill League clash with Weatherly, Marian needed to win its fourth league contest in a row to qualify for districts.The Weatherly gym was as loud as it's been all season on senior night which surely fired up the Wreckers.No lead was larger than four points in this physical bout, but Marian did just enough to squeak by and defeat Weatherly, 41-36."We told the kids that they (Weatherly) were going to come out (on senior night) and they were going to play hard," said Marian head coach John Patton. "Our playoff mode probably started back against Jim Thorpe and we struggled. We learned a lot about ourselves and have a bunch of guys stepping up since then, we're really starting to gel right now."When you have to win four league games in a row, the last one is really the hardest. It's a great atmosphere here and coming to Weatherly is always a pleasure. This is the way Schuylkill League games should be played. We had some great contributions from everybody tonight."Weatherly entered the final frame with a one-point advantage. A strong defensive showing and timely baskets contributed to much of the Wreckers' success up to the final quarter and throughout the entire game."It was the best basketball we've played this year," said Weatherly head coach Ron Cann. "We played our hearts out. It was a great showing by both teams. It came down to making some shots in the last two minutes. They made some and we didn't."The kids gave an unbelievable effort and they should be proud of themselves. My favorite thing about them is that they never once gave up. There's nobody over 5-11 on the team, and they played their hearts out every game."Neither team helped its cause from the foul line, as they combined to shoot just nine of 25 from the stripe.However, one big shot that did drop though the net came after Patton called a timeout with three minutes remaining and his Colts trailing by one.On the ensuing possession, sophomore Jarod Paisley, who scored a team-high 10 points, drilled a long three-pointer which gave Marian a two-point lead. Paisley's gutsy triple changed the course of the game, as the Colts never trailed during the remainder of the contest."So far it was probably one of the biggest shots of my career," explained Paisley. "We've really bonded and come together as a team. We've been rattling off some wins and it's such a great feeling. We knew this was a big game. We executed well and pulled it out."Patton said of Paisley, "He was huge tonight. We drew that play up for him. He was banged up a little bit and is just getting healthy again."I told him he has to keep shooting for us.. This was the second of back-to-back league games on the road and the kids really showed us what they're made of."The Colts displayed their offensive balance, as seven different players scored."At the beginning of the year we weren't sure where we were," said Patton. "It's a learning process and we tried to fit all of the pieces together. We have a lot of younger guys and a mix of good leadership from the seniors. They're fun kids to be around. I really enjoy coaching them."Luke Reiner and Nick Miller had 10 points apiece which led the Wreckers.MARIANKarnish 0-1-2-1, Vercusky 1-1-2-3, Puza 0-0-0-0, Paisley 3-2-4-10, Kuczynski 4-0-1-8, Cortese 0-0-0-0, Deangelo 3-0-1-6, Mohammed 3-0-0-7, Wesner 2-2-5-6, Weber 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-6-15-41.WEATHERLYReiner 5-0-1-10, Hinkle 0-0-0-0, Kelley 2-0-0-5, Figas 1-2-5-4, Miller 5-0-0-10, Bizarre 2-1-2-5, Knepper 0-0-0-0, Piser 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 16-3-10-36.Marian 9 12 8 12 - 41Weatherly 9 9 11 7 - 36Three-pointers: M - Mohammed 1, Paisley 2; W - Kelley 1