Boys basketball: Marquette’s defense, sharpshooting much too much for Ashton-Franklin Center

OTTAWA – On the heels of a dominating 24-point victory to open the season at St. Bede on Tuesday, the Marquette Crusaders upped the ante in their home-court debut against Ashton-Franklin Center on Friday evening at Bader Gymnasium.

The Crusaders used stifling man-to-man defense to forced 25 Raiders turnovers while also connecting on eight 3-point shots – four off the hands of senior Griffin Walker, who scored a game-high 14 points.

Marquette (2-0) eventually ran away with a 63-28 nonconference victory over AFC.

“My team was getting me open, and my shot was on tonight for sure,” Walker said. “I was able to help get us going, and we also played some great defense that earned us a big win in front of our home crowd.”

The Crusaders received nine points from senior Logan Nelson and seven points apiece from juniors Carson Zellers, Henry McGrath and Denver Trainor during another well-balanced effort. Marquette shot 8 of 18 (44%) from the 3-point arc and 24 of 55 (45%) overall.

“I don’t think we shot a lot of 3s over at St. Bede on Tuesday, but tonight you’ve got to give the kids credit, because they knocked them down,” Cru coach Todd Hopkins said. “All in all, we played hard on both ends of the court, especially on defense where we forced a bunch of turnovers.

“They’ve played some good basketball in these first two games, so I’m happy with the effort so far.”

AFC (5-2) received a team-high nine points from senior Lane Koning, as well as eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds collected by senior Kaleb Goldman.

But the Raiders just couldn’t find a way to stay within striking distance of the Crusaders.

“Marquette’s defense and 3-point shooting buried us early, with a bunch of guys that really get after it, probably 10 or more deep, which is nice to have,” AFC coach Mike Messer said. “We tried to play our game, make some changes, but in the end they really took it to us in this home court cave they have, so credit to them.”

The Cru nailed four triples in the opening frame – two by Walker and one apiece by McGrath and Trainor – to take a 24-11 lead after one quarter.

Nelson opened the second quarter with five points that spurred an 11-3 Marquette run that put the hosts ahead 35-14 after a McGrath basket at 2:20. Trainor and Zellers both drained right-wing 3s, respectively at 1:00 and with 25 seconds to go, that gave the Cru a healthy 41-18 advantage going into the half.

From there, Walker took over in the third quarter.

His third triple from the left-wing at 6:25 put Marquette ahead 46-20, followed by a lengthy volleyball-line trey at 4:35 for his fourth. He added a pair of free throws at 3:56 to put the Cru up 53-24.

Zellers then closed out the period with a bucket with 50 seconds to go that gave Marquette a 57-26 lead and a running clock by IHSA rule with eight minutes to go.

“It was a great feeling for me to hit those 3-pointers in the third quarter and help us get to a running clock the rest of the game,” Walker said. “Now we’ve got to go to Hall and play in the Colmone Classic and hopefully compete well against some good competition.”

Marquette will open the annual Colmone Classic at Hall in Spring Valley at 3 p.m. Saturday against Mendota.

AFC hosts Annawan next Wednesday in Ashton.