The Marquette boys basketball trailed St. Bede by one point with six minutes to play in Friday’s Class 1A Serena Regional championship game on Al Stegman Court.

But a 10-2 spurt over the next four minutes gave the Crusaders a three-possession advantage which they were able to hang on to the rest of the way in a 57-49 victory over the Bruins.

Marquette (24-8) - which claimed the postseason prize for the first time since 2019 and 25th time in program history - advances to the Amboy Sectional semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Hinckley-Big Rock, which was a 66-50 winner over Parkview Christian.

St. Bede finished the season at 17-14.

“We knew tonight would be a dogfight,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “St. Bede came in playing really good basketball. Our game plan defensively was to limit [Gino] Ferrari as much as we could after he had a huge game the other night. We knew [Alec] Tomsha can shoot it and when he gets hot, he can do what he did there in the third quarter.”

Marquette led 11-9 after the opening quarter, and back-to-back 3-pointers by Alec Novontey in the final minute of the second gave the Crusaders a 28-21 halftime advantage.

St. Bede trailed 33-23 midway into the third quarter before Tomsha sank three straight triples ahead of a three-point play by Ferrari to give the Bruins a two-point lead. A triple by Matt Graham with a minute to go in the third put Marquette up by one.

“Man, we put up a heck of a battle,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the way we fought all game long. The key for us tonight was to hang around. When Marquette went up 10 there midway through the third quarter, we could have let things get away but we didn’t. Alec got hot and we put together a few stops to get right back in it.

“Marquette put together a little run there early in the fourth and we just couldn’t find a way to get it to a one-possession game from there. We had some chances in the final few minutes but just weren’t able to get the big basket when we needed it. We hung in there but just came up a little short.”

After a pair of free throws by Gus Barr opened the fourth, a pair of baskets each from Luke McCullough and Griffin Dobberstein and one from Blayden Cassel made it 46-39.

“Hop told us at practice [on Thursday] and reminded us again before the game tonight that in these types of game the officials aren’t going to call ticky tack fouls,” Novotney said. “We knew it would be physical. It was tough going, but you just have to play through it.

“We’ve been able to reach this in baseball a bunch, but in basketball we’ve always seemed to fall short. I’m just excited for all of my teammates to be able to finally get this one.”

In the final two minutes, a drive by St. Bede’s Graham Ross and corner trey by Tomsha each time cut the lead to five.

But despite hitting just half of their 20 free throws in the final two minutes, the Crusaders made enough defensive stops to hold on.

McCullough led Marquette with 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks. Cassel finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, Novotney 12 points and four rebounds and Dobberstein 10 points and three steals.

Marquette hit 17 of 45 [38%] from the floor and owned a 40-29 advantage in rebounds. St. Bede made 15 of 49 [31%] of their attempts from the field.

Tomsha led St. Bede with 12 points with Burr adding nine points and four assists. Ferrari (eight rebounds, two assists) and Carson Riva (six rebounds) each chipped in eight points.

“I thought Blayden dominated things in the first half on both ends of the floor and then in the second half it was just contributions from everyone,” Hopkins said. “I’m just really happy for [seniors] Alec and Matt, they’ve been great leaders all season and it’s nice to see them get this one.”