MINERSVILLE – Time and time again, the bigs kept getting chopped down.

And Marian kept pushing until the trees came falling down.

After losing to Nativity just two days earlier, the Colts had to dig deep to find a way to outmaneuver a talented Green Wave squad in Monday’s Schuylkill League Division 3 tiebreaker game.

Rallying around some unsung troops, Marian used a huge defensive effort to outlast Nativity for a 39-26 victory at Thomas F. Fitzpatrick Gymnasium.

The win gives the Colts the division title and a spot in Wednesday’s league semifinals, where they will face Pottsville at Martz Hall.

Marian’s leading scorer, Tyler Fritz, found himself in early foul trouble and was forced to the bench for extended minutes. But head coach John Patton didn’t have his troops retreat – just regroup. Patton quickly looked to Julian Cerullo and John Malarkey, who filled the void without skipping a beat.

“Those are the type of things that we talked about all year — people stepping up,” said Patton. “I was convinced that if we played a good zone with some of our bigger guys, and forced them to put shots up and get some rebounds, that we would be all right.”

Marian out-positioned the Green Wave’s two 6-6 inside players, Marquis Ratcliff and Kegan Hertz, sealing them off time and again. The Colts (19-4) boxed out the Wave, never allowing them to use their height to get second- and third-shot opportunities.

When Fritz had to retreat to the bench with his third foul late in the first period, he know what his role was going to be.

“I just kept rooting for my teammates,” Fritz said. “I had a lot of confidence they would be all right.”

Marian held a 9-5 lead after a quarter of play. The low score obviously was the game plan.

“We wanted to spread the floor, and limit their shot selection,” said Patton. “I had confidence that we could limit their shots.”

Nativity was 5-of-13 from the floor through the first two quarters. The numbers came in stark contrast to Saturday’s game, when the Green Wave shot 50% from the floor.

Marian sprung in front 15-7 midway through the second quarter, thanks to Malarkey’s five points, but the Wave cut the lead to 17-15 at the break.

“They had too many short possessions the last game,” said Patton. “We wanted them to take a few more passes (before shooting). And I thought that was the difference.”

Marian kicked the door down in the third period. Fritz got back to normalcy with a pair of high-percentage shots in the paint, and Cerullo laid in a shot off a superb pass from Tyler, who drove inside. Fritz then kissed a triple off the glass, banking it in as the buzzer sounded that was the start of the coup de grace.

“I knew when we hit the third quarter that we would win the game,” said Fritz. “I just knew we were playing with a high energy level, something we didn’t do Saturday.”

Fritz did some dazzling footwork for a basket in the lane to open the stretch run. Malarkey smooched one off the window, and when Ritsick shoveled off a pass to Cerullo, who was uncontested in the lane, that pushed Marian’s advantage to 33-26.

HOW THEY DID IT … Marian’s defense turned the game in its favor. It allowed 34 shots, holding Nativity to 8-of-34. The smaller Colts kept hustling to the open space and the results gave them a 29-18 edge in rebounds. Ratcliff and Hertz could only manage four rebounds apiece.

STAYING THE COURSE … The Colts never dropped their heads after Fritz was tagged with his third foul. Instead, Agosti and Ritsick pulled the chains from the outside, and Malarkey and Cerullo took charge inside.

COUNTING THE WAY … Agosti was outstanding with 11 rebounds. Fritz led the way with 18 points despite his foul woes. Malarkey finished with seven. Hertz had nine for Nativity after scorching Marian for 26 Saturday.

MARIAN

T. Fritz 7-3-4-18, Malarkey 2-3-4-7, Cerullo 3-0-0-6, Ritsick 1-2-3-5, Agosti 1-1-5-3, Hnat 0-0-0-0, Chambers 0-0-0-0, Goff 0-0-0-0, Eroh 0-0-0-0, Cervasio 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-9-16-39.

NATIVITY

Hertz 2-4-4-9, Hoffman 1-3-5-5, Kuperavage 2-0-1-5, Ratcliff 2-0-0-4, Walborn 1-0-0-3, Sipes 0-0-0-0, Reilly 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0, Spolski 0-0-0-0, Piccioni 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 8-7-10-26.

Marian 9 8 9 13 - 39

Nativity 5 10 4 7 - 26

Three-pointers: Marian - Fritz 1, Ritsick 1; Nativity - Hertz 1, Kuperavage 1, Walborn 1.