Craig Engle and Daly Quinn combined for 25 points in the second half to pull Marion to within two points of Anamosa with 23 seconds left in Tuesday night's game.

But the Indians came up short and dropped their season opener to the Blue Raiders, 62-56, at the Marion gym.

The Indians were down 11 to begin the fourth quarter, but just couldn’t quite get the corner turned to pull out the victory.

Engle led all scorers with 23. Four of his six field goals were 3-pointers.

“We run an offense that everyone drives and penetrates to create an open man,” said Engle.  “That left me open to hit some 3s or to take the ball to the basket.”

Quinn, who scored 14 of his 18 in the second half, led the way in the fourth quarter charge.

“My shots weren’t falling in the first half,” said Quinn.  “I started being more aggressive in the second half and I attacked the basket. It really helped.”

Marion (0-1) seemed to show some inexperience as it played a little tentative in the first half, but opened up by scoring 21 points in the final quarter.

“We need to get better as a unit,” explained Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid.  “That will be the key to our development as the season progresses.

“We have to set guys up by penetrating with the basketball and we are improving, but we are still a work in progress,” said Manderscheid. “We seem to be trying to force things to happen rather than setting our tempo and playing with flow. We need to build on the positives we had tonight and eliminate our mistakes.”

ANAMOSA (62): Timp 6 7-8 20, Buck 0 2-5 2, Schulte 3 0-0 8, Zumbach 3 0-0 6, Beall 6 2-5 14, Russ 0 0-0 0, Schepanski 3 0-0 8, Ruley 0 0-0 0, Marek 2 0-0 4. Total 23 11-18 62.

MARION (56): Schnieders 1 1-2 3, Cannoy 1 1-2 3, Daly Quinn 6 5-5 18, Engle 6 7-10 23, Hardman 3 0-0 6, Manderscheid 1 0-2 3, Smith 0 0-0 0, Alberts 0 0-0 0, Devin Quinn 0 0-0 0. Total 18 14-21 56.

Halftime – Anamosa 30, Marion 24. 3-point goals – Anamosa 5 (Timp 1, Schulte 2, Schepanski 2) Marion 6 (Daly Quinn 1, Engle 4, Manderscheid 1). Fouled out – Hardman.