GLEN CARBON – Freshman forward Chase Jones led Marquette Catholic with 18 points, while Cam Golike added 10 points, as the Explorers went on a big first-half run, then held off a rally by Father McGivney Catholic in the second half to win a boys Gateway Metro Conference basketball game 61-38 Tuesday night, Dec. 17, 2024, at the McGivney gym.
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After the Griffins cut the lead to 7-6, Marquette went on a 15-0 rampage to expand its lead. Although a second-half McGivney rally cut the lead to 11, the damage had been done as the Explorers took home the win.
Explorers coach Cody Best felt that his side executed very well and were able to do good things, especially during the first-half run.
“I thought our guys executed a lot better tonight,” Best said. “We ran our offense well at times, and got out and pushed the ball. We played good team ball tonight.”
“We can’t dig in that big of a hole against a quality team like that,” said McGivney head coach Cory Clouser. “The second half was much better. We played them even in the second half. In the first half, we were down. We were a little bit rattled by their pressure, their intensity, their physicality. David Carroll went out early, but even with that, we weren’t trending in a good direction, it wasn’t a good start overall, and we finished well.”
The Griffins have now lost five in a row since getting off to a 4-0 start in winning the Mulberry Grove Thanksgiving tournament. McGivney went through a tough stretch in their schedule, and Clouser was anticipating the intensity to ratchet up.
“We went through a tough stretch here,” Clouser said, “and tough opponents. We’re off to a good start. We knew that the opponents and the intensity was going to ramp up even higher, and it has. We’re still looking for that first win over Marquette as a program at the varsity level, and we thought we’re getting closer. I think that we are, but against a quality team, and quality program like that, and a good coach, we can’t get down that much, and expect to come back.”
The Griffins saw some positive things in the second half that they can build on and improve.
Clouser said: “There are definitely positives to build on, but there’s only so many times you can look for moral victories. We have to start winning these close ones, or these games against tougher opponents like tonight. We have to get over the hump, and against them. The goal is to compete for conference, not just win two or three.”
The Griffins will compete in the Breese Mater Dei Catholic Holiday Tournament, and after the festive season, Clouser is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that the Griffins will face.”
“We still have some talent on our team, we still play hard, and we’re still together," Coach Clouser said. "We just have to not get used to losing. I don’t think we will, too. I don’t think we’ll accept it, and I think we know what we need to do to get over the hump. Still love our guys, still love the effort. We’ll keep improving.”
The game started with a basket from Isaiah Redd to put Marquette up 2-0, with the Griffins holding their only lead of 3-2, with free throws by Aiden Willis tying things up at 2-2. Carroll went out early after being injured after a foul, and was helped up by his teammates and the training staff, but he did not return, and it made a big difference in McGivney’s offense. After Carroll bagged a three to make it 7-6 before his injury, the Explorers scored the last 11 points of the quarter, as Jones hit a pair of key baskets during the stretch to make it 18-6 after the first quarter.
Carson Jones and Noah Menke hit the first two baskets of the second quarter to extend the run to 15-0 and give the Explorers a 22-6 lead, while a basket from Owen Kolesa broke the string and made it 22-8. Kolesa then hit a three to cut the lead to 22-11. Jones was the driving force in stopping the rally, scoring twice during an 8-3 run at the end of the first half that gave Marquette a 30-14 halftime lead.
At the start of the second half, both Jack Rea and Jones scored key baskets that allowed the Explorers to expand the lead to 49-19, but the Griffins showed some resiliency in mounting a rally, led by Willis and Chase Jansen to cut the lead to 42-27, The Explorers answered back at the end of the period to go up 47-29 at three-quarter time.
In the fourth, Jansen and Carson Barone hit back-to-back threes to put the Griffins to within 47-35, and the Griffins looking to cut the lead even further. But Marquette had the answers, getting a big three from Golike to make the score 55-37, all but ending the game. The Explorers scored six of the game’s last eight points to take the 61-38 win.
To go along with Jones’ 18 points, Marquette saw James Sehorn hit for 11 points, Golike had 10 points, Cameron Jones hit for eight points, Carson Jones had five points, Rea scored three points, and Menke had two points.
The Griffins were led by Kolesa’s 12 points, while Jansen had 10 points, Willis scored six points, both Barone and Carroll had three points each, and Brendan Kayser had a single point.
Both Marquette and McGivney are 4-5 on the season, with the Explorers next playing St. Louis Priory Catholic Wednesday night, at 7:30 p.m., then playing at Metro-East Lutheran on Friday, also at 7:30 p.m. then playing Madison at a shootout in Greenville Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
The Griffins are at Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran on Friday night, then host Waterloo Gibault Catholic on Saturday night, both games starting at 7:45 p.m., then meet Trenton Wesclin in their first game at the Mater Dei tournament on Dec. 27 at 11 a.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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