EDWARDSVILLE – For Marquette Catholic sophomore forward/center Nate Hall, his defensive play has been a key for the Explorers through the season.
Hall's defensive effort was a big difference in many of the Explorers' games, but especially in Marquette's 57-26 win over Odin in the semifinals of the 38th Metro-East Lutheran Turkey Tip-Off Classic played in late November at Thomas Hooks Gymnasium.
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“We knew like, last year, we had a lot more scorers,” Hall said. “So we had to get that scoring this year. Our defense has been on point.”
Hall added: “Well, I had to follow in my brother’s footsteps, like last year, he would do a lot of scoring in the post, “so we had to have a good post player in there.”
The Explorers defeated the Knights in the Metro-East Tourney final on Nov. 24, 50-37 for their second straight tournament championship. At the time, Hall expected a good game. Marquette Catholic's boys play Althoff Thursday at Althoff, then will play in the Freeburg-Columbia Tournament Dec. 26-29.
The Explorers have since gotten off to a very good start, going 9-1 after their win over Civic Memorial Dec.14 50-29. According to statistics from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hall has averaged 6.6 points per game, and the team has played well in the games following the tip-off tournament.
