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GREENVILLE – The Alton Marquette Explorers beat the East Alton Wood River Oilers by a score of 47-34 Wednesday night. Marquette improves their record to 18-11 and continues their postseason run.
It was a rather low-scoring game, considering back on Nov. 26 the Explorers beat the Oilers 67-30. Marquette head coach Steve Medford said that the Oilers were a much better team since they last played each other.
This was a game that the Explorers led the entire time, but the Oilers did make a push in the second half. Marquette still led 33-26 at the end of the third quarter, but Wood River had a ton of momentum. Eventually it came down to a game of free-throw shooting and Marquette was able to pull away in the fourth frame.
The star of the night was senior guard Owen Williams who dropped 22 points. Not only that but he kept his cool while at the line going 7-8 overall on free-throws.
Medford was happy with Williams’ performance. “Owen has been that way all year long for us. He’s a guy that we rely on. We count on him to make baskets and to make plays. He’s a good basketball player.”
Williams was modest when talking about his performance, saying he was “alright.”
Sophomore guard Braden Kline was the reason for Marquette’s quick start. He scored 11 points in the first quarter. He wouldn’t score again until a pair of free-throws in the fourth quarter and then finished with 13 points on the night. Kline and Williams scored all 17 points for the Explorers in the first quarter when their lead was 17-7.
Marquette hadn’t played a game in over a week, and coach Medford mentioned that his team were a little flat. “We rely on the three-pointer a lot. We missed quite a few threes and we just never really got a lot of energy going.”
In the end, the Explorers got the win and that is all that matters. They will move on to the Regional Finals against the No. 6 seeded Greenville Comets. That game is scheduled for Friday Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in Greenville.
Medford mentioned that Greenville matches up good for his team and when asked about how he prepares for Friday he finished with: “You just go into practice everyday and work really hard and try to get a little bit better.”
