GALION — The Galion Tigers are making progress, even though the wins are not coming at the desired rate just yet.

The Tigers started the second round of the rugged Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference Thursday, hosting Marion Harding, a co-leader of the league, and which had beaten them 68-29 in the first meeting.

Galion hung with the Presidents for the first half, but Harding’s size and athleticism eventually wore the Tigers down as they dropped a 75-53 decision.

“They want to play fast,” Harding coach Jamie Pearson said. “We knew their scorers. We knew they wanted to get up and down. Give their coach credit. They’ve gotten a lot better since the first time we played them. They’re a young team, so he’s doing all the right things.”

After falling behind early, 11-5, the Tigers clawed back to tie it at 11-11 on back-to-back 3-point shots by Rece Payne. The Prexies stretched the lead back to 20-15 by period’s end, as Riley Keeran scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the frame.

“I’m proud of Rece,” Galion coach Ryan Stover said. “In the last 4-5 games he’s really leaped up. He started out, he struggled, but he’s really getting confidence in himself. He’s played pretty well.”

Galion (2-10, 1-7 MOAC) was still within three, at 28-25, on a 3 by Cooper Kent with 2:37 left in the half. But Harding scored the last six point of the quarter to take a 34-25 lead to halftime.

“When you can shoot the basketball, that’s the great equalizer in the game of hoops,” Pearson said. “They hit some shots early and it gave them some confidence. They had a good game plan for us, and it allowed them to hang around.”

“That’s our goal. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing the best team or the worst team,” Stover said. “We want to get up and down the floor. We knew we were going to make mistakes; we’re going to turn it over — it happens. I just thought we had some ill-advised turnovers, just mental mistakes.”

The game started to get away as the third quarter wore on. Harding outscored the Tigers 23-11 in the period to push its advantage to 57-26 after three.

Payne hit two more from 3 in the fourth quarter to end with five 3s on the night. But it was not enough gain ground on the Prexies.

Wesley Stokes seconded Keeran’s 24 points with 14 for Harding. Ten different Prexies reached the scoring column. Keeran and marquis Long had 10 rebounds each.

“We played Tuesday and we came back on short rest,” Pearson said. “And with all the distractions — we were virtual (learning) today and we’re virtual tomorrow — they’re teens and there’s a lot going through their heads.”

Payne led Galion with 20 points and seven rebounds. Kent was the only other Tiger in double figures with 10 points and Garrett Ison grabbed seven boards.

“We got beat by (39) the first time and for us to be competitive that long — we were competitive the whole game. Our (lack of) size just hurts us. Their size helped. I don know how many second-chance opportunities they got. But these kids didn’t quit. I’m proud of them and Harding is a really good team.”

“The second time through (the league) is always tougher and this is our first second time through team,” Pearson said. “We know them, they know us. So, it’s not as easy as the first time through. We’re just happy to be able to escape with a win.”

We’ve got a good stretch here where we can try to be competitive and maybe we can squeeze out some wins,” Stover said. “If we continue to get better like we have, the tournament is going to be fun for us.”

Harding also won the junior varsity game, 67-27. Van Dutton led the Presidents with 20 points and Jayden Mayes added 16. Seth Monk had nine for Galion.

Box score

Marion Harding       20    14    23     18 — 75

Galion                         15    10    11     17 — 53

Marion Harding (8-5, 7-1 MOAC): Shots 32-66; 3-pt shots 3-13 (Riley Keeran 2, Wesley Stokes); Free throws 8-16; Rebounds 50 (Riley Keeran 10, Marquis Long 10); Turnovers 18. Scoring: Amare Pedraza 3 2 8, Riley Keeran 10 2 24, Hayden Bays 0 2 2, Marquis Long 7 0 14, Caden Jones 1 0 2, Jeffrey Jones 1 0 2, Alex Stokes 2 0 4, Wesley Stokes 6 1 14, Jacob Barr 2 0 4, Nick Hecker 0 1 1.

Galion (2-10, 1-7 MOAC): Shots 18-58; 3-pt. shots 9-24 (Rece Payne 5, Cooper Kent 2, Hudson Miller 2); Free throws 8-10; Rebounds 29 (Rece Payne 7, Garrett Ison 7); Turnovers 17. Scoring: Coen Fuson 0 2 2, Jaxson Oswald 1 1 3, Rece Payne 6 3 20, Steven Glen 2 0 4, Garrett Ison 2 2 6, Cooper Kent 4 0 10, Hudson Miller 2 0 6, Carson Frankhouse 1 0 2.

JV: Marion Harding 67-27.