Marietta’s Trey Hawkins (3) handles the ball as Warren’s Jaxon Venham (20) defends during Friday’s game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

VINCENT — Forgive the Marietta boys basketball team if they aren’t in a hurry to re-watch Friday’s 51-43 win over Warren.

Offense was hard to come by at times for the Tigers, even around the rim, but head coach Austin Gardner’s squad did exactly what they needed to do to leave Warrior Coliseum with a victory.

“It might be tough to watch some of the film of that, actually, but good teams find a way to win games, especially on the road,” said Gardner, whose team improved to 2-0. “This is a really tough place to play. Some things didn’t go our way finishing around the basket. We got lackadaisical a little bit in the first half, but I thought in the second half we locked in and we stayed focused.”

Warren (1-2) did not look like a young team that is still finding its footing, even though that is the case. The Warriors gave their rivals a tough battle and held leads of 12-10 after one and 27-26 at halftime.

“We’ve got to continue to get better,” said Warren head coach Blane Maddox. “I love the way they competed. Gave a nice effort against one of the better teams in Southeast Ohio. We gave them all they wanted for a long time.”

Warren’s Shawn Adams (12) attacks the basket as Marietta’s Lucas Miller, left, and Logan Grosklos defend during Friday’s game in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Coming out of halftime, it was Warren that couldn’t find the bottom of the net. The Warriors were 1 for 9 from the floor in the third period, with the one being a 3-pointer by Hudson Elzey to begin the quarter and put the hosts up four. Warren also was just 3 for 8 at the free-throw line in the third, giving the Tigers an opportunity to take control. They took it.

Zaiden Wittekind’s putback, which came after a series of misses and offensive rebounds by the Tigers, put MHS on top for good at 34-33 with 1:10 to go in the third. Trey Hawkins then recorded a steal on the other end, and teammate Logan Grosklos, who scored a team-high 11 points, turned it into a bucket off the glass to make it 36-33 going into the fourth.

“Just got to score points,” Maddox said. “Defense was solid. Rebounding hurt. Very physical game. We might’ve worn down a little bit, but I thought we played extremely hard and gave ourselves a chance. Just got to finish the deal.”

Two free throws by Hawkins and a 3-pointer by Owen Riley widened the margin to 41-33. Warren cut the deficit to six on two occasions, but couldn’t draw closer as Marietta kept its foot on the gas. Up 44-37, Wittekind’s turnaround jumper and Hawkins’ basket gave the Tigers the first double-digit lead of the game.

“You’ve got to be good for 32 minutes,” Maddox said. “We hit some shots the first half. We battled. We took care of the turnovers for the most part, but we had three or four in a row when they made their run and got that gap on us.”

Marietta’s Logan Grosklos (10) knocks down a 3-pointer during Friday’s game against Warren in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

In the first half, Marietta was 10 for 27 from the floor and missed a handful of attempts around the basket. With the close-range shots not working, the Tigers turned to the 3-point line. Grosklos buried three triples in the second quarter and Graeson Moat, who finished with seven points, added another to provide Marietta with a spark.

“Logan definitely gave us a lift,” Gardner said. “He’s put in an incredible amount of time, and Logan’s very deserving to have that moment, especially in the first half. He’s always in the right spot, defensively. Super coachable. Honestly, he’s exactly what we want to exemplify in our program. Logan gave us a huge lift in the first half to keep us afloat. I think he tried to take the lid off the basket for us, and we ended up finding a way to get enough baskets at the end.”

Wittekind just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Hawkins added 10 points, eight boards, four steals and three assists while Riley finished with seven points, three steals and two blocks. Marietta out-rebounded Warren 37-29.

The Tigers shot 36.7% (18 for 49) from the floor while the Warriors finished 41.5% (17 for 41).

Blake Grimes led WHS with a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double and also tallied four steals. Jaxon Venham matches Grimes’ steal total with four. Caleb Tullius added eight points and six boards, Elzey netted seven points, Jackson Perdue chipped in six points and Shawn Adams grabbed six rebounds.

Warren’s Hudson Elzey (35) pulls up to shoot a 3-pointer during Friday’s game against Marietta in Vincent. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

For the third straight year, Marietta defeated Warren in the first meeting of the season. Both times, though, the Warriors got revenge in the rematch. The Tigers are hoping to change that narrative this time around.

“I don’t think we’ve beaten Warren back-to-back in the same year since maybe 2009,” Gardner said. “That’s been a big focus of ours, and job one was to come in here and get one, and we did.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.