EDWARDSVILLE – Marquette Catholic basketball player Nick Hemann is one of four seniors on the Explorers’ roster this season, and it was his fourth-quarter free throw that gave his team a lead it wouldn’t give up as Marquette defeated St. Louis College Prep 49-36 in the quarterfinals of the 38th Metro-East Lutheran Turkey Tip-Off Tournament Tuesday night at Hooks Gymnasium.
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“We came out there, we knew that they’re a big and athletic team,” Hemann said during a postgame interview, “and honestly, I felt like that we could have done a lot better with a lot of things. We could have boxed out more, we could have rebounded more, let them come on a really big run, and that really brought us down. But it was really good for us to come back in that third and fourth quarter to get the win.”
A three-point play by Hemann, part of an 11-point night, and a three from Jack Rice were the key plays in the final run by Marquette, which saw them score the final 15 points of the game after trailing early in the fourth 36-34.
“Yeah, it really was,” Hemann said, “and towards the end, we were starting to play harder on the defense, and we were starting to move the ball around on the offensive side, and got fouls, and we made our free throws, and that was really big for us. That’s been an emphasis this year, and we were able to capitalize towards the end.”
The Explorers have won their first two starts of the new season, and Hemann thinks that the young team will improve as the season goes along.
“We’re young, we’re inexperienced,” Hemann said, “we’ve got a lot to learn, and we’re going to just get better throughout the year.”
Marquette advances to the semifinals Friday night against Odin, a 71-58 winner over Centralia Christ Our Rock, but Hemann feels that is isn’t what he expects from the Eagles, but what he expects from himself and his team.
“Well, it’s not what we expect out of them, it’s what we expect out of us,” Hemann said. “We’ve got to play hard every night, we’ve got to bring our best effort, and if we bring effort every single game, we have a chance to win, and that’s what we want to do.”
A 2-0 start is still a good one, especially with the Explorers losing much of last season’s team to graduation. Hemann thinks that it’s still the same concepts though: Effort and hard work.
“Yeah, it’s not a bad start for us, especially losing everybody that we did,” Hemann said. “But at the same time, it’s still the same mantra. We have to come out and play hard every night, and practice hard and get better every single day, and that’s always been the goal. We’re a young team, and just, we’ll be on the rise.”
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