CARBONDALE – Marquette Catholic's boys basketball dream season came to an end Tuesday night.
The Explorers didn't get off to as good a start as they would have liked and found themselves trailing 20-9 at quarter time to Mount Carmel, managed to get it close in the second quarter before falling behind 37-18 at the half and saw their season close out as the Golden Aces advanced to their first IHSA state basketball tournament in 90 years in a 61-40 win over Marquette in an IHSA Class 2A Super-Sectional game at SIU Arena.
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The Aces will meet Kankakee Bishop McNamara in a 5:30 p.m. Friday state semifinal game as Bishop McNamara eliminated Rockford Christian 79-75 at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center Tuesday night; the Explorers were eliminated at 30-4, setting a school record for most wins in a season.
“Everything that could have went wrong went wrong,” said Explorer coach Steve Medford, “from (Jackson) Marcotte coming out and hitting two three-pointers in the first quarter; that was something that we weren't expecting. That was a big part of it, but just the physicality, the rebounding – I mean, we talked about it over and over, just rebounding the basketball. We wanted to try to get out to a lead early and we couldn't.
“Just the physicality of the game, them rebounding and getitng putbacks, that was a big key. We wanted to limit the times they were able to put the ball back in the basket; when you get down 10-12 points, it just completely take out of your game plan; you're in chase mode, and that's what happened tonight.”
While Medford acknowledged the disappointment of the result, he also mentioned how proud he was of the team and their accomplishments on the season. “I was highly disappointed on how we rebounded the basketball, but to reflect on the season, it was a great season; I'm proud of my guys.”
Mount Carmel seemed a step quicker than Marquette on the night. “I don't know if it was the long bus ride, I don't know what it was; I just felt like we didn't have it,” Medford said. “We didn't have a step; it just seemed like they were quicker in every aspect of the game.”
The Golden Aces last reached the state tournament in 1927 – when they won it all in the one-class, all-comers era, defeating Peoria High 24-18 in the final. Getting back to the state tournament for the first time in 90 years was something Aces coach Tyler Buss was happy about.
“It's been a long time; I don't know how many years it's been, I'm just really proud of our kids,” Buss said. “It picked a good time to play probably our most complete game of the season. Hats off to Alton Marquette on a tremendous season; they are a load and we played our absolute best tonight and we're able to move on."
The good start for the Aces was a key to the game, Buss felt. “We got off to a good start, hitting some shots early,” Buss said, “and I thought they were trying to speed our guards up; they did a tremendous job of handling the basketball. When we got that lead, we kind of forced them to come out and play some pressure; that took some of the help side away from the defense on the post, then our post players kind of got active.
“Just a pretty complete game from our guys tonight.”
Isaiah Ervin and Reagan Snider led the Explorers with 11 points on the night, while Sammy Green and Jake Hall had six each, Nick Hemann four and Bryce Pettiford two; Marcotte led the Aces with 17 points, with Justin Carpenter adding 14, Bret Doan 10 and Brayden Stipp and Austin Racer seven each.
