MINERSVILLE — Some things are obvious.

When Marian Catholic topped Schuylkill Haven 63-50 in a District II Class 2A semifinal played in Minersville High School’s Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium on Wednesday night, nobody scratched their head wondering how it happened.

It happened despite the fact that the two teams met twice in the regular season and Haven won both games — by 10 and 11 points.

This one was all Marian from early in the second quarter, when the Colts reeled off 10 straight points to buck ahead to an 11-point lead.

Veteran Schuylkill Haven coach Fran Murphy simply observed that “they played better than us.”

Marian’s scoring was balanced, with four players in double digits.

The Colts were close-fisted in protecting their interior, as they utilized a stifling zone defense virtually the entire game.

Thanks in large part to 6-4 sophomore Rocco Griguoli, the Colts dominated the rebounding, which enabled Marian to take inside shots and have second chances.

The Colts had a 42-30 rebounding advantage. Griguoli pulled in 22 of them, while teammate Gregory Tirpak, a 6-1 freshman, nabbed eight.

Marian hit on 25 of 56 field goal attempts (44 percent). Schuylkill Haven, unloading mostly from downtown, made 17 of 51 field goal tries, or 33 percent. Of Haven’s 17 field goals, 10 were three pointers.

“We don’t have a very good inside presence to begin with, so the strength of our team was, we’re basically five guards out there tonight,” said Murphy.

The Haven coach admitted that Griguoli, who was also Marian’s top scorer with 15 points, was a big factor in the Colts win.

“The key difference in the game was Griguoli,” Murphy said. “He was just too much force under the basket, especially after we lost one guy.”

In the first half, one of the starters for Schuylkill Haven was hit with two technical fouls, which forced him out the game.

In addition, Murphy observed, “If you look at our shot chart, we’re all around the three-point arc. Teams that take shots around the basket win. They get a lot more opportunities to score.”

Marian head coach Scott Murphy said he changed strategy against Schuylkill Haven this time around compared to the previous meetings.

“The first two times we played them man, and they’ve very disciplined with their man-to-man on offense,” he said. “We wanted to take them out of that, and I think we were successful. They hit a couple of shots early and then we kind of took control. We executed exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to stay in our zone as long as we could, and we ultimately never had to come out of it.

“We knew we had a size advantage. We knew we had to dominate the glass. And the boys did.”

The first quarter serves as an indication that the game was going to be a close one. Marian took a 13-12 lead and Haven tipped its hand, showing it was going to rely on outside shooting.

Within the first two minutes of the second quarter, Marian surged to an 11-point lead thanks in part to a pair of baskets by Justin De La Cruz and Bryan Ferreira.

By the half, Marian still led by nine.

At one point in the third quarter, Haven got to within five, 35-30, but the rest of the game was a frustrating one for the Hurricanes. Late in the game, Marian’s lead ballooned to 16 points.

WHAT’S NEXT? ... Despite Schuylkill Haven defeating Marian twice in the regular season, Marian was seeded second and Haven was seeded third in the tournament. Marian will now face Tri-Valley for the district championship at 6 p.m. Saturday in Pottsville’s Martz Hall. In the regular season, Tri-Valley and Marian split their two games.

YOUNG TEAMS ... Both teams have a lot of promise for their futures. None of Marian’s starters are seniors. Griguoli played JV last year. There are just two seniors on Marian’s roster. The starting lineup consists of two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. Haven has one senior on its roster, who is a starter. It also has three sophomores and a freshman starting.

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN

Evans 7-3-5-21, Fasnacht 0-0-0-0, Diehl 5-2-2-15, Kelly 1-1-2-3, Watcher 4-0-0-11, Lopez 0-0-0-0, Krammes 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-6-9-50.

MARIAN

Nunez 6-0-1-13, Justin De La Cruz 3-4-10-11, Jacob De La Cruz 4-0-1-8, Ferreira 4-1-4-11, Tirpak 2-1-2-5, Griguoli 6-3-4-15, Price 0-0-0-0, Cannon 0-0-0-0, Knock 0-0-0-0, Osoria 0-0-0-0, Rodino 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-9-24-63.

Sch. Haven 12 10 12 16 - 50

Marian 13 18 12 20 - 63

Three-pointers: Schuylkill Haven - Evans 4, Diehl, 3, Watcher 3; Marian - Ferreira 2, Nunez 1, Justin De La Cruz 1.

Records: Schuylkill Haven (10-13); Marian (12-11).