OTTAWA – A fan leaving Wednesday night’s semifinals of the Marquette Christmas Tournament at Bader Gymnasium turned to his buddy and said, “Wow, that was two really great basketball games.”

The friend laughed and said, “You think tonight was awesome, wait until Thursday night.”

That should be the case as the final day of the boys basketball tournament will feature the top seeds – No. 1 Seneca and No. 2 Marquette Academy – meeting in the championship game at 8 p.m.

Seneca advanced with a pressure-packed 58-57 victory over No. 5 seed Serena, while Marquette used a strong second-half effort to get by No. 6 seed Reed-Custer 69-57.

Serena and Reed-Custer will meet in the third-place game at 6:30 p.m.

Seneca 58, Serena 57

The Fighting Irish (13-0) led 10-8 after the opening quarter and trailed 25-21 at halftime, but used a 12-0 run in the third to hold a 40-34 lead heading to the fourth.

There, Serena held a 54-53 lead with a minute to play, but a layup by Lane Provance, a free throw by Braden Ellis, and two free throws by Paxton Giertz were enough to overcome a 3-pointer with less than two seconds remaining by the Huskers’ Hunter Staton.

“This game was good for us, either way it would have turned out,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said. “We haven’t been in many situations like that this season, and it showed. We got into foul trouble early in the first half, and it hurts when both Kysen [Klinker] and Lane can’t be on the floor for us. I thought a big key was both of them really stepping up for us in the second half.”

Giertz finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Provance had 12 points and four rebounds, while Calvin Maierhofer posted 11 points and five rebounds.

“We were up eight, Serena came back, and then I thought we had a few kids who didn’t want the ball in their hands and were better than that,” Witte said. “So for us to get through tonight, learn from it, and know we are hopefully going to be in that situation again this season, I couldn’t be happier for them.”

Serena’s Richie Armour had 19 points and six rebounds, Staton added 16 points and six rebounds, and Tanner Faivre dished five assists.

“I thought throughout the game we missed some shots that we’ve been making this year, some really easy ones,” Serena coach Dain Twait said, his team now 12-1. “I also know the ball can bounce any sort of way, but in crunch time you have to be able to grab those rebounds off missed free throws ... you just have to find a way to get your hands on those.

“We turned the ball over in some key times and Seneca was able to convert on them. There in the third quarter, we had a 29-23 lead and then two minutes later Seneca is up 34-29; if we could have gotten a bucket in that stretch to stop that run, I think we’d have been OK. From there we were playing catch-up, and Seneca isn’t a team you want to be trying to do that against.”

Marquette 69, Reed-Custer 57

The Crusaders held a 33-30 lead heading to the intermission but opened the third quarter with a 13-5 burst. The Comets were able to cut the deficit to 54-47 with five minutes to play, but the hosts exploded on a 12-3 run over the next three minutes to earn the win.

“I thought our guys came out and worked really hard tonight,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said, his club now 10-3. “Reed-Custer is a very good, tough, physical basketball team, but we thought if we could keep the pace at a fast one, we’d maybe tire them out and have a shot.”

Tommy Durdan (six rebounds, seven assists) and Charlie Millen (nine rebounds) each netted 18 points for the Cru, with Logan Nelson adding 17 points and Krew Bond handing out seven assists.

“At halftime I told the guys they had a higher gear they can play at, maybe even a couple more,” Hopkins said. “We told them we needed to play desperate on the defensive end of the floor, and on the offensive end, we are what we are as far as it being someone different every night. The guys did a great job of really locking down in the second half.”

Reed-Custer was paced by 19 points and nine rebounds from Jake McPherson, 12 points and five rebounds from Lucas Foote, and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Wes Shats.

“I know we were down three going into halftime, but I thought we were just fine,” R-C coach Mark Porter said, his squad now 9-2. “We’ve struggled the last couple of games offensively at times, but we’ve found a way to get that back on track.

“We came out in the second half and just didn’t execute and let Marquette get a little bit of a lead. We didn’t panic, but we did start trying to force things that aren’t our strengths.

“We needed to see a team like Marquette, a tough physical team, and play in a dogfight. Although it’s a loss, there is a lot we can take away from tonight moving forward.”

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2022 Marquette Christmas Tournament

At Bader Gymnasium, Ottawa

Semifinal #1

Seneca 58, Serena 57

SENECA (58) — Klinker 5-7 2-3 12, Ellis 3-8 1-2 8, Giertz 7-16 4-4 20, Maierhofer 4-6 3-7 11, Provance 2-6 1-3 5, Lucas 0-1 0-0 0, Farcus 0-1 0-0 0, Traina 1-3 0-0 2, Degrush 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 (46%) 11-19 (58%) 58.

SERENA (57) — B. Armour 0-4 0-0 0, Hart 2-5 1-2 5, Faivre 1-5 2-2 5, Figgins 3-8 0-0 6, R. Armour 5-11 9-11 19, Baker 2-10 2-2 6, Staton 6-8 2-2 16. Totals 19-51 (37%) 16-19 (84%) 57.

Seneca (13-0) 10 11 19 18 – 58

Serena (12-2) 8 17 9 23 — 57

3-point goals — Seneca 3-11 (Klinker 0-1, Ellis 1-5, Giertz 2-4, Provance 0-1); Serena 3-18 (B. Armour 0-3, Hart 0-1, Faivre 1-4, Figgins 0-4, Baker 0-3, Staton 2-3). Rebounds — Seneca 31 (Giertz 7, Provance 6, Maierhofer 5); Serena 32 (R. Armour 6, Baker 6, Staton 6). Assists — Seneca 15 (Giertz 5, Ellis 4); Serena 12 (Faivre 5, Baker 4). Steals — Seneca 10 (Ellis 4, Giertz 3); Serena 12 (Hart 3, R. Armour 3). Blocks — Seneca 3 (Ellis 1, Provance 1, Klinker 1); Serena 3 (R. Armour 2). Turnovers — Seneca 16, Serena 16. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Seneca 18, Serena 16. Technical foul — Seneca (Team).

Semifinal #2

Marquette Academy 69, Reed-Custer 57

MARQUETTE ACADEMY (69) — Bond 1-7 0-0 2, Walker 2-7 0-0 6, Durdan 9-13 0-0 18, Nelson 6-10 1-3 17, Waldron 2-2 1-2 5, Zellers 0-1 0-0 0, Graham 0-1 0-0 0, Mullen 9-13 0-2 18, P. McGrath 1-2 0-0 3, Trainor 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-58 (52%) 2-7 (29%) 69.

REED-CUSTER (57) — Foote 5-16 0-0 12, Christian 3-6 2-4 8, McPherson 5-11 4-6 18, Bohac 2-5 0-1 4, Shats 5-13 1-5 11, Monroe 1-2 0-0 2, Eggleston 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 (39%) 7-16 (44%) 57.

Marquette Academy (10-3) 16 17 15 21 — 69

Reed-Custer (9-2) 17 13 10 17 — 57

3-point goals — Marquette Academy 7-21 (Bond 0-3, Walker 2-7, Durdan 0-1, Nelson 4-5, Zellers 0-1, Graham 0-1, P. McGrath 1-2, Trainor 0-1); Reed-Custer 6-21 (Foote 2-9, Christian 0-1, McPherson 4-9, Shats 0-1, Monroe 0-1). Rebounds — Marquette Academy 32 (Mullen 9, Durdan 6); Reed-Custer 32 (Shats 10, McPherson 7). Assists — Marquette Academy 23 (Durdan 7, Bond 7, Walker 6); Reed-Custer 10 (Foote 3, Bohac 3). Steals — Marquette Academy 8 (Durdan 2, Walker 2); Reed-Custer 7 (McPherson 3). Blocks — Marquette Academy 1 (Nelson 1); Reed-Custer 3 (Foote 2). Turnovers — Marquette Academy 13, Reed-Custer 19. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Marquette Academy 16, Reed-Custer 15.