Marquette Academy pulled away with a shutout second quarter and cruised to a strong finish in its 53-32 conference opener victory at Seneca on Friday night.

It took a competitive 14-9 first quarter, but the Crusaders eventually settled in on both ends of the floor. Led by junior guard Griffin Dobberstein, who tied his career high with 28 points, Marquette outscored the Fighting Irish 16-0 in the second quarter, building a 30-9 lead into half and never looked back.

“We had a horrible practice yesterday and I was real concerned about tonight,” Marquette head coach Todd Atkins said. “But our energy was there on the defensive end. We controlled the boards pretty good and did better on our help defense.”

Dobberstein said the Crusaders’ fast start in the first half after Thursday’s rough practice was exactly what they needed.

“Having a fast start like that just makes you not worry about the second half as much,” Dobberstein said with a laugh. “As long as we come out with that energy every time we take the floor - we’re going to be a tough team to beat this year.”

Regardless of Dobberstein’s big night, Atkins made sure to give credit in other places and emphasized that it was a team effort.

“Obviously, Dobberstein had a big night and I know he’s capable of that,” Atkins said. “Teams try and do things defensively to take him away but our inside guys can play, too.”

Crusaders sophomore center Luke McCullough was a dominant presence in the paint on both ends of the floor, swatting five shots in the first half and altering several more throughout the night.

“He changes the game,” Dobberstein said about his teammate. “When everyone crashes, we’ve got shooters on the wing, and he scores inside. Our first three games, he was our best player.”

McCullough’s all-around performance showed in the box score, as he finished with seven points, eight rebounds, three assists and five blocks. Lucas Craig finished with eight points, seven rebounds and an assist.

First-year Seneca head coach Nathaniel Meiss tipped his cap to the Cru and said his team struggled to find a rhythm offensively and lacked the energy Marquette brought in the first half.

“We didn’t do a good enough job on Dobberstein, and they were physical defensively,” Meiss said. “I thought we came out with some energy in the first quarter - did some things well. But we just didn’t respond to the physicality they brought.”

A first quarter highlight from the Irish came in the form of a put back dunk from Zeb Maxwell. Meiss thought that play might spark something in his team, but it did quite the opposite.

Maxwell’s dunk was the last points of the first quarter and shockingly ended up being Seneca’s last points of the first half.

“I thought we lost our minds on the bench after that,” Meiss said. “It’s good to be excited, but let’s do it in the right manner and get ready to play another quarter. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Seneca was led in scoring by junior guard Brayden Simek, who had 13 points, 12 of them in the second half, and added three steals. Senior forward Brady Sheedy finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

Despite the loss, Meiss wants his team to go forward with a focus on consistency and getting comfortable growing into new roles.

“We’re just going to keep getting better each and every day,” Meiss said. “We’ve got guys who need to score who haven’t been expected to score much in the past. We’re trying to evolve.”