COLUMBIA - When he looked down at the MVP trophy, Regan Snider didn’t think about himself, but for his team.
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“It’s awesome, but this is a team award to me for sure. It’s for our team,” Snider said.
The senior, four-year letterman scored 19 points with four three-pointers to help lead the Marquette Catholic Explorers to a decisive 53-27 victory over the Civic Memorial Eagles to win the Columbia-Freeburg Holiday Tournament at Columbia High School on Saturday night.
“We knew we had to handle their press and be patient against their zone. They run that 1-2-2 extended out, so we knew we had to hit the short corners, hit the middle of the lane, and just make shots.” Snider said. “I was feeling good shooting the ball. When that first one went down, I said: “alright I’m going to have a good game.”
The Explorers and Eagles previously met just over a month ago at Marquette, and the home team walked away 58-38 winners. Civic Memorial came in full confidence after a nice victory over Columbia, but Marquette just so happened to play one of their best games of the season tonight by playing sound defense.
“We played these guys once before, we know what they do, and I thought our coaches did a good job of putting together a really good scouting report,” Marquette Catholic head coach Steve Medford said. “That was a complete game. It all starts on the defensive end, and that’s been the thing I’ve preached the whole time I’ve been around here. Our defensive effort was really, really good.”
Marquette managed to hold JaQuan Adams, the leading scorer for the Eagles to two points. He came into the game averaging 17.2 per game.
“Their best offense is sometimes not the dribble drive it’s the second chance opportunity points that JaQuan [gets] because he’s so quick off the floor and getting rebounds and putbacks,” Medford said. “We did an excellent job of making it one-and-done, that was one thing we wrote on the board.”
Isaiah Ervin scored 11 points, and he was followed by forwards Nick Hemann and Jake who both tallied ten. Hemann and Sammy Green were both named to the all-tournament team, but Medford has particularly been impressed with Hemann’s ability to step into a more significant role.
“[Nick’s] been unbelievable this week and the honor he got was well deserved. He could’ve been MVP of this tournament as well,” Medford said. “If we can get him going and make some buckets we’re going to be a tough out.”
Hemann impressed with his post play throughout the tournament, but especially his mid-range game by knocking down baseline shots.
“It feels really good for me. It’s my first time in my high school career, and it’s something I’ll take very deeply,” Hemann said.
Civic Memorial was led by Caden Clark’s ten points and Bryce Zupan’s seven. They drop to 9-5 on the season and take second place in the tournament.
“I thought the game plan was good; it was execution. We couldn’t make shots; we forced shots. We played like we were nervous, but Marquette will do that to you,” Civic Memorial head coach Ross Laux said. “We’ll put this game behind us. They played great, we played really bad, but we don’t put this tournament behind us.”
Marquette asserted themselves from the get-go.
Green opened the scoring by knocking down a three-pointer and Hall followed with a layup, and moments later Snider converted his first of four triples. The Explorers led 8-0, and Kaleb Denney trey stopped the bleeding momentarily for the Eagles.
Marquette made three more buckets to end the first quarter with a 14-4 lead, and in the second they put a virtual lid on the basket.
“They have no weaknesses,” Laux said of Marquette. “If you find one then let me know. They can shoot it, penetrate, they’re unselfish. They got an outstanding leader in Green, and the two first kids off the bench could be easily starting for them. Defensively they’re outstanding. They’re patient, and they run great stuff.”
After a mid-range baseline bucket from Hemann and a Snider three-pointer, Bryce Zupan nailed a triple, which would be the last points Civic Memorial would score. They were held to two field goals in the first half as a result. Hemann concluded the first half by making the score 21-7 by draining another baseline shot.
“It seemed to grow kinda over as the years have gone by, but I practice it just in case the times come, and it came tonight,” Hemann said.
The real fun began for the Explorers in the second half.
Hall started it off with a layup, and after a turnover, Erving scored on an uncontested fastbreak layup. Zupan answered with a basket, but then came the retort from Marquette.
After Adams scored his only two points off a floater, Snider converted an and-1, and on the following possession, he drained another triple. Seconds later he blocked a shot in the paint, chased after it, and saved the ball from going out of bounds to Green then who took off to start the fast break. As he dribbled to the free-throw line, Green dished the ball to Ervin who was wide open from downtown and the junior hit nothing but net, which sent the Explorers bench into a frenzy moments later after the Eagles called timeout.
“That was huge. I actually got beat on that back-screen. I was able to come back, block it, save the ball, and Isaiah came down and hit that three,” Snider said. It got everybody up, and it was great. We started rolling and never took our foot off the pedal.”
“That play down here was a six-point play. That could’ve easily been them making three points, and instead we come back and make three points,” Medford said. “That’s a hustle play, effort play, and that’s something you can control, and our goods have done a good job with this year.”
That made it 36-13 and seemingly game over then.
After Hall scored on an alley-oop layup, Snider capped the quarter off by sinking a three-pointer with just under ten seconds to play.
Marquette finishes out the first half of the season ranked No. 8 in the Class 3A AP poll and undefeated at 14-0, but still have room for improvement heading into 2018.
“We’ve just been preparing so well for everything. Our coaches have done so well with scouting the teams and knowing everything they do and finding us the best ways to score,” Nick Hemann said.
“The big thing with us is we have to take it one game at a time, preparing the right way, and take a step forward,” Medford said. “I know we did a really good job tonight, but I still think we gotta get better defensively as a group for us to be a sectional type of team.”
