Boys basketball: Late free throws by Marquette Tournament MVP Paxton Giertz lift Seneca past hosts for title

OTTAWA – The curse is dead, but it took some real doing to finally kill it.

After a pair of clutch 3-pointers by Logan Nelson helped No. 2 seed Marquette open a 36-30 lead with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter of the Marquette Christmas Tournament championship game, the No. 1-seeded Seneca Fighting Irish reeled off the next 10 points, the last four of those on free throws by Paxton Giertz.

Those tosses regained the lead, and two more by the sophomore point guard late helped make that margin stand up for a wild 46-43 victory over the Crusaders on Thursday night in Bader Gymnasium.

Giertz, the tournament MVP, netted nine of his game-high 17 points from the free-throw line in the fourth period to help the Irish not only stay undefeated in 14 games, but become only the second No. 1 seed to win the event in its 13 years and the first since Reed-Custer in 2014.

“We snapped the curse, finally,” Giertz, who last year as a freshman saw the No. 1 Irish fall to Flanagan-Cornell in the title tilt, said with a big smile. “I just knew down the stretch I had to ignore the crowd and stay up on my toes, to get up [when shooting]. … By then, our intensity and how well-conditioned we were versus them was the difference in the fourth quarter.

“The MVP? It’s crazy. I never thought I could do this, especially in my sophomore year, but all the players and the coaches around me helped me get to where I am now, and it feels good.

“It’s amazing to win one.”

Giertz, who also had four assists, and teammate Braden Ellis (six points, 10 rebounds) were tabbed to the all-tournament team, as were Marquette’s Tommy Durdan and Krew Bond.

Logan Nelson posted a team-best 12 points and six rebounds for the Cru (10-4), all from the arc, while Bond finished with 10 points. The Irish defense limited Durdan to four points on the night.

“We had a six-point lead [in the fourth], and I thought we had them on the ropes,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said, “but they made a play and chipped their way back in it. Give them credit. We got a little stagnant on offense, stopped getting into the lane with penetration, but that was due to their pretty good defense. … [Our players] played their butts off last night and again tonight. They made a good run tonight, but just came up a little short.

“It was a great atmosphere. I told our guys they packed this place like it hadn’t been packed since Ottawa and Marquette last played each other in 1984. I’m very proud of our guys.”

Marquette had enjoyed six-point leads in the third quarter (24-18 on another Nelson trey) and again in the fourth before Seneca’s pounding the ball inside to Lane Provance and Kysen Klinker began to pay off.

A Calvin Maierhofer deuce and a post-up and two tosses from Provance (11 rebounds) knotted the game at 36 before the four free throws by Giertz gave the Irish the lead. Marquette managed to tie it again at 40-40 on a 3-pointer by Griffin Walker with 1:24 remaining, but buckets in the lane by Provance at Klinker took the lead to four points.

Marquette cut that deficit to one, but Giertz added his final two free throws with 14.7 seconds left to set the final. A missed trey with under 10 seconds left sealed the Cru’s fate.

“Composure was the key,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said. “This was a regional championship-caliber game, both teams throwing some haymakers, and credit them. They hit some huge, huge shots, but we were successful at the free-throw line.

“Paxton did not have his best game by far, and Marquette did a good job of taking Braden away, so the key in the second half was our ability to get the ball inside where Lane and Kysen could finish.

“I have the utmost respect for Todd Hopkins and Marquette. They bring out the best in us, just like we do them. I expect when we see them against in the [Tri-County] Conference game and tournament, it will be another dogfight.”

Also named all-tournament were Putnam County’s Jackson McDonald, Hall’s Mac Resetich, Serena’s Camden Figgins, Dwight’s Wyatt Thompson, Lexington’s Alec Thomas, Reed-Custer’s Jacob McPherson and Wilmington’s Ryder Meents.

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2022 Marquette Christmas Tournament

At Bader Gymnasium, Ottawa

Championship game

Seneca 46, Marquette Academy 43

MARQUETTE ACADEMY (43) — Bond 5 0-1 10, Walker 2 0-1 5, Durdan 2 0-0 4, Nelson 4 0-0 12, Zellers 0 0-0 0, Waldron 0 0-0 0, Trainor 1 4-6 7, Mullen 2 1-3 5, P. McGrath 0 0-0 0, Graham 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-11 43.

SENECA (46) — Degrush 0 0-0 0, Klinker 5 1-4 11, Ellis 2 0-0 6, Giertz 4 9-10 17, Maierhofer 2 0-1 4, Provance 2 4-4 8, Traina 0 0-2 0, Lucas 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-21 46.

Marquette Academy (10-4) 6 13 9 15 — 43

Seneca (14-0) 9 9 9 19 — 46

3-point goals — Marquette Academy 6 (Nelson 4, Walker 1, Trainor 1); Seneca 2 (Ellis 2). Total fouls (none fouled out) — Marquette Academy 19, Seneca 14.