Vengeful Marquette starts fast, crushes St. Bede

SPRING VALLEY – In any sport, it more often a benefit to have a short memory, to quickly forget a failing or tough loss, and move on.

The Marquette boys basketball team proved Friday night that it is the exception to that unwritten rule.

A little more than 11 months after No. 10 seeded St. Bede shocked the No. 1 seeded Crusaders in the opening round of the Class 1A Midland Regional, Marquette remembered that embarrassment and got its revenge in its first game of 2024, exploding to a 20-2 first-quarter advantage and breezing to a running-clock 68-30 victory over the Bedans in Abbot Vincent Gymnasium.

MA sophomore Alec Novotney, who as a freshman was a late-season call-up for the Cru in that game, lofted home six 3-pointers on his way to a game-best 20 points. Two of those treys came in the opening period when the visitors grabbed an 8-0 lead before the Bruins – thanks in part to four straight turnovers – even attempted their first shot.

“We definitely remember that from last season and we knew we had to come out and show them,” Novotney said. “We played well, got ahead early and never let it go.”

That hot start left vengeful MA (9-6, 3-0 in the conference) shooting a sizzling 60.9% through the first three periods and 54.9% for the Tri-County Conference contest, while St. Bede’s 1 for 13 start led to a 23.9% night (11 of 46) from the field.

“If the guys on that team don’t take the memory of that game to their grave, there’s something wrong with them,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “That’s something they should never, ever forget, one day tell their kids and grandkids about it and have it with them forever. That’s just the way it is … The kids came out, played hard and had a really good start to the game.

“That’s something you always worry about coming off of the Christmas tournament. I gave them three days off and they handled it right … We had some lapses, some sloppy, but the defense was good throughout.”

Threes by Novotney and Denver Trainor and a power deuce by Charlie Mullen opened up an 8-0 edge. Logan Potthoff got the home team on the board next, but that putback accounted for their only points in the first 8 minutes, 37 seconds.

Novotney’s second bomb created that first-quarter lead and though back-to-back buckets by Mason Ross started the second stanza, Marquette ended up hitting 9 of 11 tries in that quarter to expand the margin to 42-14 just before halftime.

Another Novotney trey, a Sean Kath jumper and a free throw from Henry McGrath late in the third quarter provided the running clock margin for the final period. There, a pair of deuces by Charlie McGrath maintained the edge.

“And we have to see Novotney for two more years after this? Wow. He can flat-out play,” said St. Bede coach Brian Hanson, his club now 3-15, 0-3 in the Tri-County. “They have a lot of skilled players, ones that handle the ball well, move the ball well and get to the right spots, and we couldn’t contend with that. It seemed we were a day late and a dollar short on every loose ball, getting bumped going through screens, we just struggled with those all night … We just keep playing hard and doing the best we can.

“But tonight, they came out, punched us in the mouth and we couldn’t get anything to go (in) and that made it a long night for us.”