ALTON - When the Civic Memorial High School Eagles boys basketball team arrived at Marquette Catholic High School, they did not know that it would become so difficult to put the ball in the basket.
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Fortunately for the Eagles, they ultimately topped their opponents 36-33 in Tuesday, Dec. 1’s matchup.
“We’re gonna have nights where we don’t shoot well, CM Coach Doug Carey said, “but I told them that they were going to fall eventually, and to keep jacking them up. Defensively, I thought we were excellent, especially in the last two plays of the game.”
To begin the first period, it seemed that quite a bit of time passed before either team had an opportunity to shoot. After a foul was called in the Explorers’ favor, senior Shandon Boone knocked in two points in from his free throw opportunities. This kicked off an offensive push by both teams. Following this play, junior Nick Messinger landed a flawless three-pointer. His teammate and sophomore Reagan Snider landed a free-throw point himself and senior Trey Aguirre brought in two more for the Explorers. The team scored 8 points in this period.
The Eagles had the edge on offense this period. Both senior Brett Lane and sophomore Jaquan Adams brought in four points each to assist their team. After a foul was called on junior Brandon Hampton, he scored two points as well with successful free throws. At the end of the first, the Eagles led by 2 points with a score of 10-8.
During the second period, the Explorers’ offense really had a chance to shine. Senior Ben Sebacher brought in a whomping six points in this period for his team. Aguirre and Messinger brought each brought in a basket each to contribute to the 10-point push.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Marquette defense was incredibly strong at this point in the game. After almost a dozen missed shots toward the basket, senior Justin Williams made a three-pointer after evading the Explorers’ tough defense. The score was 18-13 in the Explorers’ favor to end the period.
After the teams came back from half, there seemed to be a total shift in dominance on the court. Similarly to the Eagles in the second period, Marquette could not seem to land any baskets or get to their side of the court for that matter. Boone and Sebacher could only score two points each this period.
In an astounding comeback, the Eagles made an 11-point push. Junior David Lane lead his teammates in points this period by bringing in four points from two different free throw opportunities. Williams swooshed in a great three-pointer himself while Adams and senior Adam Hill made one basket each. The score at the end of the third was an extremely close 24-22 in the Eagles’ favor.
The neck and neck battle continued on through the fourth. Sebacher tied the two teams with a successful basket. As quick as that happened, Adams landed two points from free throw opportunities and brought the Eagles back into the lead. Boone from the Explorers quickly rebuttled and brought in a three-pointer, pushing his team into the lead by one point. One more free throw by Adams of the Eagles tied the score yet again. After a foul was committed on Hampton, he brought in two points from free throws himself, stretching the Eagles’ lead by two points.
The Explorers weren’t done yet. Snider tied up the score at 29 each by landing a great basket. With a free throw point by Boone at a little over three minutes left on the clock, the Explorers led the team by one with a score of 30-29. Messinger made a valiant attempt to push his team above the Eagles again with a successful three-point shot that brought their score to 33. Unfortunately for him and his team, this was the last scoring play that the Explorers had during the remainder of the game.
After Messinger’s three-pointer, the Eagles shifted into an offensive overdrive. D. Lane scored four points back-to-back from landing a basket and two free throw attempts, tying the score at 33. Adams brought in two himself to push the score to 35 for his team. To add insult to injury to the Explorers, B. Lane landed a successful free throw point with under 30 seconds to go to make the score 36-33. The final buzzer sounded and the Eagles took home the victory.
“This might be the most upset I’ve been after a loss in a long time,” Explorers coach Steve Medford said after the game. “We just didn’t do things right defensively, we gave away a lot of offensive rebounds, we gave up transition defense again. I won’t fault our efforts, but as a team and a staff, we just have to get better.”
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