Boys basketball: Marquette beats La Salle-Peru, wins its pool at Colmone Classic

The first pool winner of the 2022 Colmone Classic was determined Monday.

Marquette got off to a strong start and pulled away for a 67-46 victory over La Salle-Peru to win the Black Pool with a 2-0 record in the annual boys basketball tournament.

The Crusaders will play the winner of the Gray Pool in the first semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Princeton is 1-0 in the Gray Pool, while St. Bede is 0-1. Rock Falls has not opened tournament play yet.

“We know what’s ahead of us Friday, but for us to come in here and win our pool, that’s good stuff,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Princeton is huge. They’re great. We’re going to come, compete and see what happens.”

Also Monday, Pontiac beat Bureau Valley 89-62. The Indians are 1-0 in the White Pool along with Fieldcrest, so their game at 8 p.m. Wednesday will determine the White Pool winner.

Tuesday’s games are L-P vs. Mendota at 5 p.m. followed by Princeton vs. Rock Falls and Hall vs. Putnam County.

Marquette 67, La Salle-Peru 46

The Crusaders started the game with the lead, as Tommy Durdan split a pair of free throws before the clock started after L-P was called for a technical foul for wearing the wrong color uniforms.

Griffin Walker drained a 3-pointer to give Marquette the lead for good at 4-2, and the Crusaders sank four 3s in the first quarter to take an 18-12 lead after the first eight minutes.

Hopkins said it was good to get off to a strong start against a larger opponent.

“We’ve had some rough games [in this tournament]. Last year we played Pontiac, and I think they beat us by 40,” Hopkins said. “Most of these guys were in that game, so I think it helped. The guys were fired up.”

The Crusaders began to pull away late in the second quarter during a stretch when the Cavaliers were whistled for two technical fouls. L-P coach Jim Cherveny argued a non-call of a foul on Josh Senica and was ejected with his second technical foul – the first coming because of the uniforms.

Durdan split the free throws, and Caden Eller hit a pair on the ensuing possession to give Marquette its first double-digit lead at 28-18.

After a jumper by Alex Graham, L-P received another technical, and the Crusaders turned it into a free throw by Denver Trainor and another jumper by Graham to extend the lead to 33-18.

Marquette led 33-22 at halftime.

“I thought we played pretty well,” Hopkins said. “We wanted to put pressure on them and make them play fast. Their big kid [Senica] is a ton. He had 21, and I thought we did a pretty good job on him. It shows the type of player he is. We wanted to put as much pressure as we could on their guards and just make it as hard as we could to throw it into him.

“We were able to get a lead and get off to a good start. We just kept playing hard. I’m real proud of the guys.”

The Crusaders led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, but L-P slowly chipped away, getting its deficit down to 46-33 by the end of the third and pulling within 11 with 5:25 left in the game.

However, Marquette went on a 10-2 run to push its lead to 61-42 with 3:06 left.

“We never have depth like we have,” Hopkins said. “I think we have 10 guys who I can run in and out, and there’s not a huge drop off. We want to try to wear teams out. I’m not saying we wore them out, but I think the constant pressure helps.

“I shortened [the rotation] up a little bit in the fourth. I felt them coming, and the second group just wasn’t offensively attacking the rim. We were in the bonus. We wanted to keep our foot on the accelerator, get in the lane and either get a layup or get to the line.”

Walker led Marquette with 16 points, while Logan Nelson scored 15. Durdan added 14.

Senica had 21 points and 11 rebounds for L-P.

Pontiac 89, Bureau Valley 62

The Storm kept pace with the Indians early, as each team was strong behind the arc, making four 3-pointers apiece as Pontiac took an 18-15 lead after one quarter. Pontiac pushed its lead to 10 twice in the second quarter, but the Storm hit three more 3s in the quarter to stay within 36-29 at halftime.

The Indians’ duo of Riley Weber and Henry Brummel proved too much for the Storm in the second half. Pontiac pulled away, taking a 63-43 lead after three quarters and extending it to 30 in the fourth to put a running clock in place.

Weber finished with 34 points, while Brummel had 24, with each making four 3-pointers. The Indians shot 13 of 30 from 3-point range.

“I thought we competed better [than Saturday],” BV coach Jason Marquis said. “Pontiac is a really good team. They shot the lights out. They have a couple really good players. We have to find those two kids [Weber and Brummel]. At one point, they had 55 of their 63 points, so we’ve got to some adjusting to do in game.

“I think the reality is we can compete and beat anybody when we play to our potential, and we can lose to anybody when our effort is not where it needs to be.”

Elijah Endress hit five 3s and finished with 17 points to lead the Storm, who were 14 of 22 beyond the arc.

“I thought we executed well offensively, better than we have,” Marquis said. “Then you get a couple open looks, and then the hoop starts to look better, and all of a sudden you find yourself shooting a contested 3 and it goes in. On the contrary, we didn’t reward ourselves for contesting shots defensively. They were physical on the glass, so we have to improve there if we want to beat good teams.”