By TIM MILLER

Marysville boys basketball coach Ryan Grose was disappointed that his squad could not execute its game plan on either end of the court Friday evening.

"We keyed on Scioto's top two shooters but they got good looks at the basket anyway" said Grose  after the Monarchs' 72-60  loss  to the Irish.

The Monarchs' plan on defense was to pressure  Dublin Scioto's Josh Ashwill and Ryan Duncan out front and make them drive to the basket.

"We wanted them to have to drive for two- point baskets," said Grose. "However, we gave them too many looks at three's and they hit them. We can't exchange three-pointers for our two-point baskets."

The  Irish  shot  a  blistering  10-of-18  from beyond the arc, with Duncan nailing three and Ashwill hitting two. Both led the Irish - who had four players in double figures  - with 15 points apiece.

On the offensive end of the floor, Marysville's (2-8) plan was to get the ball inside to 6-4 post man Craig Runyan.  And while the senior led with a game-high 19 points, Grose felt the pumpkin didn't go inside enough.  "Craig is capable of scoring underneath the basket but we didn't take advantage of that as much as we should have," said Grose. "Even if he doesn't score, we have to get the ball inside enough  to  make  other  teams  think  about  it. Then, we've got good enough shooters to hit outside. We just rushed too many shots tonight."  Even  so,  the  Monarchs  didn't  shoot  that badly, hitting nearly 50 percent (23-of-47) from the floor. The Irish connected on 28 field goals in 45 tries but the difference came from the 30 points Scioto struck beyond the arc.

Once the Irish took a 23-13 lead at the end of the opening period, their margin remained in double figures for much of the contest.  Scioto built a lead as big as 28-15 early in the second quarter but the Monarchs (who will host Westland this evening on Hall of Fame Night) kept battling.  A three-pointer by Kody Davisson and a shot from  close  range  by  Kyle  Poling  narrowed MHS' deficit to 31-20.

A jumper by Steven Romesburg and a spin move in the lane by Runyan sliced the margin to 33-24.  Another bucket from Runyan later made the score 35-26.

Senior Connor Devine came off the bench to swish  a  three-pointer and  the  Monarchs  had suddenly pulled to within 38-31 with 27 seconds left to play in the half.  Ashwill drained  a  trifecta  right  before  the buzzer and the Irish took a 41-31 lead at the turn.

Scioto scored five quick points in the third period but the Monarchs kept up the fight.  Back-to-back baskets from Logan Roston and Runyan made it a 46-36 contest. Every time the Monarchs got to within striking distance, how- ever, the Irish were able to respond.  A traditional three-point play by Ashwill and a three-pointer from Gabe McGlone suddenly put Scioto up by a 54-36 margin.  Dominic Madison of Scioto swapped trifectas with Romesburg and as such, the Irish took a 57-39 spread into the final period.

The Monarchs later narrowed the gap to 59-48 on consecutive baskets from Runyan and Davisson.  The Irish were able to penetrate Marysville's defense late in the game for lay-ups that helped set their final margin of victory.

Dublin Scioto

Ashwill 6-1-15, Duncan 6-0-15, Wehder 5-3-13, Madison 4-0-10, Bisutti 3-2-8, Yates 2-0-6, McGlone 2-0-5, Anderson 0-0-0, Wallace 0-0-0, Strausbaugh 0-0-0, Sult 0-0-0. Totals 28-6-72.  Three-point  goals:  Duncan  3,  Ashwill  2, Madison 2, Yates 2, McGlone 1.

Marysville

Runyan 9-1-19, Romesburg 3-2-10, Davisson 3-0-8, Roston 3-0-7, Devine 2-0-5, Gould 1-2-5, Kidd 1-0-3, Poling 1-0-2, LaRoche 0-1-1, Hites 0-0-0. Totals 23-6-60.  Three-point goals: Romesburg 2, Davisson 2, Roston 1, Devine 1, Gould 1, Kidd 1.

The Monarchs split the first two games of the tripleheader.

The freshmen improved to 3-7 with a 35-32 victory. Desmond  Johnson  led the Monarchs with 14 points.

The jayvees are now 5-5 after their 48-37 set- back.  Case Chamblin and Ryan Evans each scored eight.