Sweet, sweet victory for the Marion Patriots

Sweet, sweet victory for the Marion Patriots

Special to The Times HOT SPRINGS—What did Marion’s Class 5A state title Friday afternoon mean to you?

Were you one of the thousands of Marion supporters who made the three-plushour jaunt to Garland County to see the Fightin’ Pats play for their first state title since 1993?

Are you a former Patriot hooper who was thrilled to see The M finally win the big one?

Are you a proud alumnus who took off work early to be in attendance in hopes that maybe your red, white and blue-clad warriors could cut down the nets?

(Whoops! Sorry, Little Rock Hall fans. Too soon).

It’s a Rorschach Test that means different things to different people. Never let anybody tell you how to fan.

Just be proud as pie today that the Pats toppled Little Rock Hall, simply one of the top boys hoops programs in the state.

The Marion Patriots, of Ray Brown and Jerry Franklin fame, 57. Hall, alma mater of The Great Sidney Moncrief, 54. Oh, and it went to overtime.

Just in case the anticipation of the game and the stress of regulation didn’t raise your blood pressure enough.

To me, the storyline was one of redemption. Redemption for the 1993 Patriots, who could not have played much worse in the first half of the 1993 Class AAA final against Dumas. Marion dug itself a 16-point deficit that day, rallied to tie the game, and lost on a gut-punch of a buzzer-beater in the waning seconds.

Redemption for the 2005 Patriot cagers, who streaked to a 14-0 mark in the competitive 4A East.

Prior to this year, the last conference championship for Marion. Marion may have been the top team in Class 4A that year, and looked to be on its way to the finals before an Alma prayer bounced hard off the back rim, skied towards the heavens and whispered through the net for a onepoint Airedale victory.

Consider the 2006 Pats redeemed, as well.

Though they did not have the insane winning streak that the ‘05 team did (24 straight), they were peaking going into March before their hopes and dreams disappeared in a river of Magnolia guard Solomon Bozeman free throws.

The 2010 and 2011 Pats should also feel relieved.

Marion hosted the 2011 state tournament and looked like gangbusters the first two rounds before succumbing to mighty Little Rock Parkview and Arkansas commit Aaron Ross in the semifinals. Marion turned the tables on Parkview in this year’s quarterfinals, pulling away in a battle of Patriots.

Perhaps the most damaging loss in Marion hoops history came in the 2010 semifinals at Lehr Arena in West Memphis when the Patriots blew a 12-point second-half lead to Hall, of all teams. The Warriors canned a game-tying three-pointer with less than seven seconds in regulation and pulled away in overtime.

I’m not afraid to tell you there was a tinge of deja vu Thursday afternoon at Bank OZK Arena as Hall again rallied late to send the game to overtime. This year’s game had all of the drama of that ill-fated 2010 meeting, just with a much better outcome.

I couldn’t shake the thought of the parallels between the 2010 and 2019 Hall games as I drove home from Hot Springs.

They were dang near the same game, with the same two teams.

When I was Sports Editor of this publication (20132016), I once wrote a column where I compared the local high school teams to NBA teams. I said Marion was like the Phoenix Suns, which have made the NBA Finals twice, losing in six games to the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls.

Today? Marion officially has its seat at the championship table. No matter what the future holds, Marion and its fans will always have the amazing 2018-2019 Patriots. Champions of the 5A East and the whole state.

So no matter what Marion’s gold-medal season means to you, you’re right.

It’s the redemption story that never ends.

Chuck Livingstion is a former Evening Times Sports Editor and currently a Staff Writer for Hooten’s Arkansas Football.

By Chuck Livingston