Not long after the Marion boys' basketball team knocked off Vinton-Shellsburg in its first-round district tournament game Feb. 22 at Marion, Indians Coach Mike Manderscheid was already looking ahead to his team's district tournament final three days later.

Manderscheid knew his Class 3A eighth-ranked Indians would be staring down the gun barrel pointed by powerful Dubuque Wahlert, a 3A member of the otherwise all-Class 4A Mississippi Valley Conference.

"As for the game (Feb. 22), Vinton did a nice job of being ready to play and took it at us in the first quarter," Manderscheid said. "Hopefully, we learned that we need to be ready to go Thursday night (against Wahlert). We can and need to play better on both ends of the floor Thursday night."

It didn't happen.

The cold-shooting Indians never found their range inside the gym at Cedar Rapids Kennedy and fell to Wahlert, 59-50, in the district championship, ending their successful season one game short of playing for a state tournament berth.

Wahlert ended Marion's 14-game win streak and sent the Indians home after a season in which they won their fourth straight WaMaC Conference West Division championship and finished with an overall record of 19-4. Three of Marion's four losses were to teams from the MVC.

Marion led Wahlert, 31-29, at halftime and trailed only 41-39 at the end of the third period, but the Golden Eagles went on a run to build a 54-42 lead with 2 minutes left and held on for the win.

"I'm proud of the kids," Manderscheid told The Gazette after the loss. "They never quit."

The Indians couldn't buy a bucket in the second half against Wahlert's 3-2 zone defense. They made just 1 of 24 3-point attempts (0 for 17 in the second half) and finished 18 of 59 (30.5 percent) from the floor.

Junior guard Kasey Semler finished with a team-high 14 points, but was just 4 for 20 from the floor, including 1 of 12 from long range. Hunter Sade added 10 points and six rebounds, Tyler Fisher seven points and six boards , Corey Kramer six points and five rebounds, and Dusty Albaugh grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Indians.

Marion played much better in its 62-45 win over Vinton-Shellsburg to open district play. The Indians led, 33-23, at halftime then used a 20-point third quarter to close the book on the Vikings for good. It was the third time Marion beat Vinton-Shellsburg this season.

"We applied a little full-court pressure in the second and third quarters that helped get us going and forced the tempo that we prefer," Manderscheid said.

Sade had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots against the Vikings. Kramer had 12 points and three assists, Semler 10 points, Dalton Combs eight points, four rebounds and three assists and Fisher six rebounds and four assists.

Semler averaged 16.0 points a game to lead the Indians this season, but shot just 43.3 percent from the floor and 25.2 percent from 3-point range. He also averaged a team-high 3.6 assists.

Sade, a 60-percent shooter, averaged 12.9 points and 7.2 rebounds and blocked 55 shots. Kramer averaged 10.7 points and 3.3 rebounds, and Albaugh 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds.

Manderscheid loses eight seniors to graduation, including Sade, Kramer and Dalton Combs. Semler, Albaugh and top reserve Fisher lead the cast of returning characters.