ALTON – The Marquette Catholic boys basketball team was given the No. 5 seed in the bottom bracket of the IHSA Class 2A Greenville Sectional.
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That meant the Explorers had to take part in a regional play-in game against No. 12-seeded East Alton-Wood River on Monday evening.
Marquette opened the game by scoring the first 20 points, going on to lead 20-1 after the first quarter and eventually winning 67-39.
The Explorers improve to 16-16 on the season and move on to the Staunton Regional semifinals where they’ll play No. 3-seeded Piasa Southwestern (18-13) on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
In the other semifinal, it will be the hosts No. 2 Staunton (26-4) and Roxana (16-16) at 6 p.m. The sixth-seeded Shells beat No. 9 Virden North Mac 51-47 on Monday in a play-in game.
“We’re going to Staunton now and we’ll be ready to go,” Marquette head coach Cody Best said. “I know we don’t have the prettiest of records, but right now we’re 1-0, so we’ll take it.”
“It will be a good regional. It’s going to be good coaching, and it’s going to be tough. It’s just four schools that don’t necessarily get along I guess, it’s going to be a dogfight every game,” Best continued.
Monday’s meeting between the Explorers and Oilers was the first of the season. It was important for Marquette to get off to a good start against a somewhat unfamiliar foe.
“I told them, we’ve got to get going from the jump, because if we’re going neck and neck in the second half, then it’s going to be a dog fight,” Best said. “But I thought we came out with a lot of energy, and we pressured them pretty well I thought.”
Carson Jones scored the first six points on Monday before his brother Cam Jones made it 8-0, forcing EAWR into a full timeout with 5:34 remaining in the first quarter.
Jack Rea got involved before six straight points from Cam Jones. Baskets from James Sehorn and Isaiah Reed capped off the opening 20-point run.
Marquette opened the second quarter on a 5-2 run to extend the lead to 25-3, eventually leading 39-17 at halftime.
Cam Jones led the Explorers with 15 points while brothers Chase Jones had 11 points and Cam Jones had eight. Cameron Golike added seven points, Sehorn and Camden Daniels each had six, Nolan Robinson had four, and five other players had two points each.
In total, 12 different players scored for Marquette.
“It was good for everyone to contribute,” Best said. “I thought we played very well.”
The Oilers end their season with a 4-28 record. They were led in scoring by Tamarion Marshall with 20 points. Jordyn Spiller had seven, Austin Bock had six, Woody Peterson had four, and Harrison Smith had two.
The Explorers move on to face the Piasa Birds on Wednesday, a team they used to play once or twice a season but haven’t played since Dec. 28, 2022.
That resulted in a 45-43 win for Piasa in the Freeburg Holiday Tournament. Before that game, the Explorers won 12 straight meetings from 2009-2017.
But Marquette has already been doing its homework and has a good idea of what to expect come Wednesday.
“We know their personnel,” Best said. “It’s going to be a fight. They’ve got a lot of seniors, so they definitely have that upper hand, but we’ll be ready to go.”
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