Sammie Lewis was honest about his mindset as visiting Valley View took a 10-point lead after the first quarter of Tuesday night's crucial 5A East contest at Fidelity Bank Arena. "The frustrating thing was we knew what we needed to do to win, and we just weren't doing it," said Lewis, Marion's first-year head basketball coach. "We didn't guard the ball well at all." Lewis addressed the adjustment with his team and after surrendering 16 first-quarter points to the Blazers, Marion allowed just 15 points the rest of the way as Marion took down a 39-31 victory that pulled the Patriots into a first-place tie atop the 5A East, and as a bonus, gave Marion the tiebreaker over Valley View, meaning if Marion beats Greene County Tech on Friday then the Patriots would finish as the No. 1 playoff seed from the 5A East. Marion improved to 23-6 overall in 2024-2025 with an 11-2 mark in league action with the win over Valley View, as senior Mikell Lewis led the way with 12 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Chandler Randle scored eight points with five rebounds, while Jackson Black scored seven points with four boards. Valley View tumbled to 24-5 and 11-2 with the loss despite getting a game-high 16 points from Oliver Barr, while Max Manchester hit for seven, and Gavin Ellis scored six. The Blazers scored the game's first five points as Ellis canned a three-pointer and Josh Burnett scored on a runner, and Valley View earned the 16-6 margin when a Barr three-pointer fell with 5.5 seconds left in the first quarter and the visitors took that lead to the second stanza. "I did not want to let that affect my mental because I knew if I did that then it would rub off on the guys," said Lewis. "I told them we could see what we were not doing and that we could easily fix it, and the guys, as they've done all year, responded and went to work." An Ellis three-pointer gave Valley View its largest lead of the night at 19-6 early in the second period, but the Blazers made just one more field goal in the first half to give Marion a shot to rally. Marion embarked on a 12-3 run to close out the second, keyed by five points apiece from Zayden Walker and Dexter Higgins, Jr., and the Pats had crawled within 22-18 by halftime. A Lewis offensive rebound and layup tied the game for Marion at 23 with five minutes left in the third quarter, but Valley View claimed a 27-25 lead after three quarters when Manchester rattled home a baseline jumper with three seconds left in the third. Marion completed the comeback and took its first lead when Randle shook free on an out-of-bounds play and made a corner three-pointer with 7:30 left in regulation for a 28-27 Patriot advantage. Lewis scored five straight Marion points to give the Patriots the lead for good midway through the fourth, and the Patriots locked the Blazers down from there, forcing five fourth-quarter turnovers and allowing Valley View to make just one of eight field goals over the final eight minutes. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion concludes its 2024-2025 regular season on Friday night when the Patriots travel to play Greene County Tech in Paragould. The varsity girls game will tip around 6 p.m., followed by the varsity boys around 7:30, and you can watch both games for free at the MPAN YouTube channel, at MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 2/25 Marion 39, Valley View 31 Nettleton 70, Paragould 64 W. Memphis 69, Searcy 36 Greene Co. Tech 66, Batesville 31 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 2/26 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Marion 11-2* Valley View 11-2* Nettleton 10-3* W. Memphis 8-5* Greene Co. Tech 7-6 Paragould 3-10 Batesville 1-12 Searcy 1-12 *clinched state tournament berth The top four teams make state tournament March 4-8 at Greene Co. Tech. 5A EAST GAMES ON 2/28 Marion at Greene Co. Tech Nettleton at Valley View W. Memphis at Paragould Searcy at Batesville