EDWARDSVILLE - Junior Brown led five Metro-East Lutheran players in double figures with 18 points, as the Knights used a first-quarter run to take control and defeat Marquette Catholic 76-50 in a Gateway Metro Conference boys basketball game played Friday night at Thomas Hooks Gym.
Metro-East extended an early first-quarter lead from 4-3 to 17-11, and extended things by halftime to 40-23, holding off attempted rallies by the Explorers to get back into the game. Every time Marquette tried to rally, the Knights would have the answers, as Metro-East has gotten off to a 7-0 start.
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There's still some flaws to be worked out for the Knights' especially defensively, but still, 7-0 is nothing to sneeze at for certain.
Metro-East head coach Anthony Smith made these comments after the game: "We've got to put together some more things on defense, but for the most part, it wasn't a bad game. It's better than losing a game, and Marquette always plays hard. They're a good ball club. We've just got to clean up some more stuff for us, though."
The Knights are off to the 7-0 start, and Smith is happy with the start.
"No, I'd much rather be 7-0 instead of 0-7," Smith said with a smile and chuckle. "It's a good win for us, a good start. We're off to a good start."
Metro-East did go on a run in both the first and second quarters to take charge of the game, and Smith feels it indicates the Knights' work rate.
"We work really hard," Smith said. "We are trying to put it together, and win some battles, just to get ready for the war at the end of February. We moved the ball well, took some quality shots, but we weren't really quick-triggered and made some good plays. We're figuring it out."
The balanced scoring, with five men in double figures, was a big plus for the Knights.
"We're going to go with Thijson (Heard) and Junior go," Smith said, "we're just looking for a third guy that can sustain if those two aren't having a good night. Tonight, it was (Jacob) Kober, (Kaleb) Turney, Brady (Bishop), Ian (Skelton), and (Lucas) Lorenz. and all those guys picked up the slack. So, it's a good win as a team, and we're excited about the fact we're 7-0, not 0-7. We've still got some work to do, like I said, I'm still not very happy with our defense sometimes, but we're 7-0, so we'll see."
On the other hand, the Explorers, in falling to 5-6 after a big win Wednesday night against St. Louis Priory Catholic, had a difficult night.
"We looked like we were already on Christmas break," said Explorer coach Cody Best. "It was just one of those nights where we couldn't score, and we turned it over every other time down the court. We got off to a slow start, and we couldn't find a way to climb back in it."
Sam Huber and Brown started the game off well for the Knights with baskets that put Metro-East up 4-0, and after a three-point play from Chase Jones, Metro-East went to work, outscoring the Explorers. as Huber, Bishop, and Skelton all chipped in to increase the lead to 17-6, before a basket from James Jones and a three at the buzzer by Jack Rea cut the lead to 17-11 after the first quarter.
Undaunted, Skelton, Heard, and Turney all scored at the start of the second up the Knights' lead to 24-11, after which Metro-East expanded the lead to 30-15, climaxed by the first of three dunks on the night by Turney. Metro-East, behind the efforts of Turney, Kober, and Heard, extended the lead to 40-23 at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Knights continue to push the lead, the highlight being a driving dunk from Heard that scored 51-25. The Knights continued to push the lead up before going ahead at the end of the period 62-40. The Explorers scored the final period's first seven points, as Eli Baggio, Chase Jones, and James Jones scored to cut the lead to 62-47, but the Knights came up with the answers as Metro-East won going away 76-50.
Dalton Brown also contributed to this story.
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