ALTON - Wednesday night was a weird one for the Marquette Catholic High School boys basketball team. They hosted and beat the Priory Ravens but after being up by 20 points at the half, the Explorers narrowly won by a score of 47-43.

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Marquette head coach Cody Best said that "you could say we played our best half of basketball this season and also our worst in the same game."

Things started off well for the Explorers. Braden Kline scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half, including four three-pointers. They were moving the ball well and getting some nice transition baskets.

Priory struggled to get rebounds and Marquette made them pay for it early. The Explorers grew their lead to 31-11 at halftime.

After only scoring two points through the first three quarters, Priory's Myles Eidsness-Garcia erupted for 16 points in the fourth quarter alone.

The Explorers got outscored 11-2 in the third and 21-14 in the fourth. Although the Ravens' resilience, they were unable to erase the 20-point deficit. Marquette went on to win their third game in a row and improve to 6-3 on the season.

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Parker Macias scored 10 points for the Explorers while Dre Davis had seven. Jack Spain had five, Sean Williams had four, and Jaylen Cawthon had three.

Marquette had a lot of trips to the free-throw line, and they didn't fare too well. They went 13-24, missing most of their opportunities in the fourth quarter. They shot 8-15 from the line down the stretch.

The Ravens didn't do much better going 5-15.

As for Priory, Max Lipe added 13 points, Ethan Lewis had 10, and Christian Gonzalez had three.

It may not have been pretty, "but a win's a win," Best said.

The Explorers will be back in action tomorrow at Maryville Christian with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Marquette won't be back at home until the new year when they host Granite City on Jan. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

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