The top-ranked offense in the Wamac Conference, led by the league's top scorer, was too much for Center Point-Urbana to handle on Saturday at Marion.

Senior guard Kasey Semler hit a 3-pointer, a step back jumper, and converted on a fast break, all in the first 1:45 of the game, guiding Marion (11-7, 11-5 Wamac) to a 7-0 lead. The Indians led throughout in their 72-60 win over Center Point-Urbana (7-10, 7-9).

Semler had 15 points by the end of the first quarter and finished the game with 42 points, double his conference leading average.

"I was in a pretty good rhythm," Semler said. "I was looking to win the game and do whatever it took. My teammates were getting me the ball and setting some screens and I was hitting some shots tonight."

Semler did more than hit some shots however, he scored nearly every way possible from 3-pointers to drives and went 15-of-19 from the stripe.

"I thought he played pretty well today," Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid said with a smile. "He got a lot of dribble drive, got the outside going, he used a little bit of a pull up, he mixed it up all game."

The 42-point performance by the senior guard put him over the 1,000 point mark for his career at 1,005.

"It is a great honor, following Amry Shelby, one of my good friends," Semler said. "I didn't even realize I had 1,000 until they told me, so it's pretty exciting."

Even with the impressive performance from Semler, the Stormin' Pointers refused to give up. Although they trailed throughout and Marion stretched its lead to 11 points twice, CPU was able to battle back and get the lead down to five points six times. But that was as close as they were able to get.

"CPU plays hard, and the way some of their kids shoot it from the outside, they are not going to be dead," Manderscheid said. "They can come back at any point."

Sophomore guard Josh Jirak led Center Point-Urbana with 20 points and forwards Nick Wood and Nathan Becker chipped in with 13 points apiece.

The victory was big for the Indians, who are in a four-way fight for the west Wamac crown.

"We are trying to put ourselves in position to do some things coming down the stretch here," Manderscheild said. "We've got a big game against Benton Tuesday night and the kids are keeping focused on what we want to achieve; a conference championship on the west side."

The game against Benton has major divisional championship implications with both teams tied at the top of the standings.

CENTER POINT-URBANA (60): Chase Long 0 0-0 0, Dakota Vogt 0 0-0 0, Colin Kramer 4 0-0 0, Jared Jirak 0 1-2 1, Joey Dighton 4 0-0 2, Aric Myers 3 0-0 4, Nic Rhinehart 0 0-0 0, Josh Jirak 2 2-4 20, Ty Ramsey 0 0-0 0, Nick Wood 5 0-2 13, Parker Mason 0 0-0 0, Nathan Becker 4 3-7 13, Trent Kuhn 0 0-0 0, Dalton Jacobs 0 0-0 0, Tyler Smith 1 0-0 2, Dane Salow 2 0-0 5, Adam Kortenkamp 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 6-15 60.

MARION (72): Dusty Albaugh 4 0-0 8, Tyler Fisher 0 0-2 0, Cale Cannoy 0 0-0 0, Tre Kinney 0 0-0 0, Dylan Cronk 0 0-0 0, Kasey Semler 11 15-19 42, Mitch Wagner 0 0-0 0, Dan Van Gorp 3 4-6 12, Jared Huhndorf 0 0-0 0, Mark Stone 0 2-4 2, Josh Davila 0 0-0 0, Austin Hardman 3 0-0 6, Tyler Hedtke 0 0-0 0, Isaac Frazier 1 0-0 2, Jake McDonald 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 21-29 72.