In Wednesday’s Class 1A Serena Regional semifinals on Al Stegman Court, subsectional top-seeded Marquette exploded out of the gates in topping No. 9 Midland in the opener, while No. 5 St. Bede broke open a tight game with a huge run in the third quarter, then held off a late rally from No. 4 Dwight to move on.

The Crusaders and Bruins will meet for the regional championship at 7 p.m. on Friday. Marquette defeated St. Bede by five on Jan. 16.

Marquette 60, Midland 40

Marquette (23-8) netted the game’s opening 17 points against the Timberwolves (16-16) on the way to the 20-point win.

The Crusaders led 21-5 after the opening eight minutes and held a comfortable 37-14 advantage at halftime.

“We been stressing all season about getting off to fast starts and we were able to do that tonight,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “We were able to get the tempo where we wanted it, got the lead and then had them playing from behind. I didn’t expect to score the first 17 points of the game tonight, but the kids just came out ready to go and got it done.”

Senior guard Alec Novotney scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first half and passed for five assists to lead Marquette, which hit 23 of 51 [45%] from the floor, won both the rebound [42-36] and turnover [13-17] battles and held Midland to just 15 of 56 [27%] shooting.

Blayden Cassel posted 12 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks for the Cru, while Lucas Craig added 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Luke McCullough (eight rebounds, three blocks) and Griffin Dobberstein (three assists, six steals) chipped in six and five points, respectively.

Midland was led by 10 points from Brecken Pyles and nine points and seven rebounds from Trent Allen.

“We weren’t able to really shake them the two times we played them this year,” Hopkins said. “But I thought the difference between tonight and those two games was our defense. I thought, especially in the first half, we were doing a really good job of getting stops and keeping them out of the lane.”

St. Bede 76, Dwight 66

After a back-and-forth opening half, St. Bede used a 16-4 run to extend a three-point halftime lead. The Bruins held a 56-41 lead heading to the fourth, but Dwight fought back to cut the deficit to 69-64 with 55 seconds left.

From there, St. Bede (17-13) was able to keep the Trojans (19-13) at arm’s length by knocking down 7 of 10 free throws.

Senior Gino Ferrari popped in 18 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for St. Bede, while sophomore Graham Ross finished with 19 points and four rebounds. Carson Riva added 13 points, Gus Barr nine points and Geno Dinges eight points.

The Bruins shoot 19 of 53 [36%] from the floor and held a 38-26 rebound margin.

“That stretch in the third quarter was definitely a big key in the game,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said. “It was tight throughout the first half and then to start the second half we were just able to get into the paint more than we had. We were able to maintain a double-digit lead for a while until Dwight made a push. Then it was up to us making our free throws, which we did a pretty good job of.

“We had contributions from everyone that stepped on the floor and that’s what you need in the postseason. We did a great job with the little things tonight in the last three quarters, like taking care of the ball, taking good shots and finishing at the rim.

“I’m really proud of the guys tonight and now it’s on to Friday. We’ll see what we can do.”

Dwight junior Collin Bachand netted a game-high 24 points, while classmate Joe Duffy had 18 points. The Trojans sank 23 of 62 [37%] of their shots.

“St. Bede has some really quick guys and they were able to get out in transition on us in the third quarter and get some easy baskets,” Dwight coach Jeremy Connor said. “We in turn couldn’t seem to get any shots to fall during that stretch and then had to play from behind. I thought we battled back, maybe got it from 16 to five in the final minute but just couldn’t climb all the way back.

“We didn’t shoot very well and didn’t do a good enough job of keeping them off the boards. When you don’t do those two things in the postseason it’s going to make it tough to advance. That said, this team plays hard every minute and I’m proud of their effort tonight and all season. It was a very fun team to coach.”