EDWARDSVILLE - Marquette Catholic got 12 points from Jake Hall and a lot of balanced scoring in a 77-32 win over Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran in the Metro East Lutheran Thanksgiving Turkey Tip-Off Classic.
Reagan Snider added 11 points for the Explorers and Bryce Pettiford, Nick Messinger, Nick Hemann and Isaiah Ervin each had nine points on the night. Sammy Green chipped in eight points for Marquette.
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Marquette Catholic coach Steve Medford said his team will have a lot of depth this year and that showed in the opening tourney game.
“We have eight kids who scored eight to 11 points and that is a lot of balance,” he said about the performance Tuesday night. “When you get balance like that it is hard for a team to focus on one guy. We have multiple weapons and we will see what we can do with them the rest of the year.
"I also thought our defensive effort was really good. Sometimes we weren’t smart about our positioning, but as long as we are getting the effort and the kids are playing hard, the other things are easy to clean up.”
Marquette got off to an 18-9 lead at quarter time and expanded it to 39-19 at the half to run out winners on the night. Adam Heard led the Silver Stallions with 11 points, with Tyler Fleeman adding six.
The 1-0 Explorers take on Staunton at 6:30 p.m. today in the MEL Auxiliary Gym as pool play concludes.
