Boys basketball: Serena, Flanagan-Cornell secure quarterfinal wins at Marquette

OTTAWA — In the final two quarterfinal games of Wednesday’s Marquette Christmas Tournament at Bader Gymnasium, top-seeded Serena used a huge burst to close out the third quarter in an 83-56 victory over Dwight, while No. 5-seeded Flanagan-Cornell held on late for a 61-57 triumph over No. 4-seeded Marquette.

Serena and Flanagan-Cornell now meet in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday, while Marquette and Dwight will play in the fifth-place game semifinals at 5 p.m.

Serena 83, Dwight 56

The unbeaten Huskers (13-0) jumped out to a 21-13 lead after one quarter and 44-35 at halftime. The Trojans closed to within 50-45 after a 3-pointer from Joe Duffy with 4 minutes, 30 seconds on the clock.

From there Serena netted the final 13 points of the third and first four points of the fourth to all but put the game away.

Tanner Favire poured in a game-best 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting with seven rebounds, three steals and three assists for Serena. Carson Baker posted 13 of his 19 in the opening half and Richie Armour registered 18 points and 10 rebounds.

“We wanted to defend the three-point line much better than we did,” Serena coach Dain Twait said, pointing to the 14 3-pointers Dwight made in the game. ”Now, whether they just missed shots they were making early in the game, or we did a better job in guarding them out there, I felt like our defensive intensity wasn’t where it needed to be until the start of the run in the third. Credit them for knocking down shots, but I’m also not convinced we were playing as hard as we could through two-and-half quarters.

“On the offensive end, we were able to spread the scoring out in the first half and shot the ball pretty well. Then the 13-point run was mainly because we finally stepped up on the defensive end and gave a good effort. We had way too many turnovers at halftime, and that was a main message at the break that we needed to take care of the ball better in the second half and I thought we did that.”

Conner Telford and Duffy shared team honors for Dwight (6-7) with 15 points, each sinking five 3s. Joey Starks added 12 points and six rebounds, while Luke Gallet had eight points and five rebounds.

“We just got into a funk there in the latter stage of the third quarter where we made a few not so good passes and Serena scored off them in transition,” Dwight coach Jeremey Connor said. “I felt like we had done pretty good job taking care of the ball up until that point but then it kind of fell apart for us. We had also really shot the ball well up until midway through the third, and then we did take care of the ball and got a good shot we just couldn’t get it to fall.

“We have a relatively young team, and we are still trying to figure out how to stop another team’s run. We had a few times we were almost there late in the third, but Serena would find a way to get to the basket or make a stop on defense to keep us at arm’s length.”

Flanagan-Cornell 61, Marquette 57

The Crusaders (7-6) held a 14-8 advantage after one, 29-24 at halftime and 43-41 heading to the fourth quarter in a very physical contest throughout.

The Falcons (11-3) grabbed the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter on a layup by Mason Rich with three minutes to play to make it 51-49. Marquette took the lead back seconds later on a trey by Alex Novotney, but a 3 by Connor Reed and another layup by Rich helped seal the victory.

Kesler Collins had a monster game for F-C, scoring a game-high 30 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking a trio of shots. Reed finished with nine points, Logan Ruddy with eight and Rich with seven.

“Connor and Mason each hit big shots there late to give us leads,” F-C coach Brian Yoder said. “They were very big shots when we needed them. We also made a number of stops in those final couple minutes to keep the lead. Marquette’s pick-and-roll with (Charlie) Mullen is very tough to defend, but I thought when it mattered down the stretch, we found a way to disrupt it. It seemed like we were playing from behind most of the night, but when we were finally able to get the lead, we did a good job of hanging on to it.

“Kesler put together another solid game for us, but really tonight everyone on the roster made an impact on the outcome at one point or another. This was a nice win, and now we come back again (Thursday) night and get it another go.”

Novotney paced Marquette with 22 points, with Denver Trainor adding 12 points and six rebounds. Millen (12 rebounds, two blocks) and Carson Zellers each chipped in eight points.

“(Yoder) always does an excellent job with his teams and that was the case again tonight,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “They played a heck of a game.”