Boys basketball: Big shots help Marquette hold off St. Bede, 53-51

OTTAWA – The Marquette boys basketball team found itself in heavy foul trouble and down six points late in the third quarter against rival St. Bede on Tuesday night.

But the Crusaders clawed back into the game and took the lead for good after Aiden Thompson swished a 3-pointer and another long basket on consecutive possessions just over midway into the fourth quarter for a four-point advantage.

The Bruins closed to within two twice, but saw their potential game-tying shot fall sort at the buzzer to give the Crusaders a 53-51 victory at Bader Gym.

“We were in a ton of foul trouble in the first half, and I think we had four guys with four fouls in there at the end,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “The bottom line is, we have to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble.

“But hey, what were we down, six points late in the third? Then (Tom) Durdan hit a big shot, so did (Logan) Nelson, and then Thompson had a huge fourth for us. They guys showed some grit tonight and fought our way back after a not very good third quarter.”

Durdan led Marquette (2-0) with 16 points and four rebounds, while Nelson (six rebounds, three assists, two steals) and Thompson (seven rebounds) each scored 11 points.

St. Bede’s Paul Hart stuffed the stat sheet with 30 points, 20 rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots. Luke Story added 11 points and four rebounds.

“I’m really proud of how the team stuck in there tonight,” said St. Bede coach Brian Hanson, whose club falls to 2-3 on the season. “This is the second game in a row that we’ve had the last shot to try and tie it at the buzzer. This is a heartbreaker, but we are trying to take experiences here early in the season and hopefully learn from our mistakes so we can be a tough team late in the season.”

Marquette used an 11-3 run midway into the first quarter to grab the early momentum before Durdan sank a running 3 at the horn to put the hosts up, 17-11. St. Bede chipped away and trailed by three after back-to-back triples from Story and Jake Bradach in the final minutes, but a corner trey from Nelson and a free-throw-line jumper by Thompson had the Crusaders up, 29-21, at the intermission.

“I thought Alex (Graham) did a really good job on Hart in the first half holding him to nine points, but he really came out with a vengeance in the third quarter,” Hopkins said. “They made a run there to start the second half, and you never want that to happen, but I give our kids credit because they really picked things up in the fourth quarter. They really slowed us down in the third with the zone. We were a little passive attacking it and settled for 3s instead of pounding the ball inside.”

“We tend to go rogue at times when things are adverse,” said Hanson, who thought his team going 10 of 21 from the line really hurt. “We are trying to get the kids to stay within themselves, and I thought we got away from some of the things we wanted to do tonight in the first half. We talked at halftime about making them play defense and to look for openings after we reversed the ball. I thought we did a good job of that in the second half.”

After a Thompson free throw 29 seconds into the second half, the Bruins exploded on a 13-0 run with three baskets from Hart, hoops from Duncan Lawler and Callan Hueneburg, and a 3-pointer from Story to hold a 34-30 lead.

St. Bede still held the four-point lead to start the fourth, but a 3 and floater from Durdan put Marquette up, 46-45, in the opening two minutes. Hart then converted on a tough runner in the lane before Thompson’s two long-range shots.

Marquette is next in action at 7 p.m. Friday at Ashton-Franklin Center, while St. Bede is off until Tuesday when it takes on Princeton in its opening game of the Colmone Classic at Hall.