Boys basketball: Seneca tops Marquette Academy 68-54 for T-CC Tournament championship

GRANVILLE — After an opening half that saw both top-seeded Seneca and No. 2 seed Marquette Academy nearly trade point for point, the Fighting Irish made their move.

Trailing by two early in the third quarter, Seneca’s Paxton Giertz sank a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key before Lane Provance and Kysen Klinker scored off offensive rebounds as part of a 15-7 run that turned the tide and helped lead the Irish to a 68-54 triumph in the championship game of the 97th Tri-County Conference Tournament at Putnam County High School’s R.M. Germano Gymnasium.

It was Seneca’s first title after three runner-up finishes the past four seasons. Marquette defeated Seneca in last season’s title contest.

“The last two years have been really disappointing getting to this game and not coming away with a win,” said Seneca senior Lane Provance, who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. “I really wanted this one, especially being my last shot at it.”

“I gave them a little chewing at halftime. I said the things we just practiced (Friday), we aren’t really executing like we should be. Then in the second half we came out and strung a number of stops together and went on a gradual run of our own.”

—  Russ Witte, Seneca boys basketball coach

Seneca (18-7) trailed Marquette 15-14 after the opening eight minutes and 31-30 at halftime.

“The first thing I put up on the board before the game was, we will win this game with our bigs,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said. “If guys like Lane, Kysen and Grant (Siegel) play like they can we will win. I also felt like we had a pretty good game plan defensively, and while Marquette hit some shots in the first half, I felt we broke down way too much.

“I gave them a little chewing at halftime. I said the things we just practiced (Friday), we aren’t really executing like we should be. Then in the second half we came out and strung a number of stops together and went on a gradual run of our own. It also helps when Paxton gets on a heater and starts knocking down shots. We’ve had so many games were either Lane or Kysen played super well, but tonight was the first time this season they both really stepped up and played well together.”

Marquette (14-7), after the aforementioned early second half Seneca burst, stayed close with a pair of free throws by Denver Trainor and a short jumper by Carson Zellers but trailed 47-39 heading to the fourth. another drive by Trainor closed the gap to 49-41 a minute into the fourth, but Seneca responded with Giertz netting seven straight points to extend the lead to 15. From there the Irish swished 12 of 14 free throws to close out the win.

Giertz finished with a game-high 32 points, to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Klinker added 12 points and seven rebounds for Seneca, which shot 46% (23 of 50) from the floor.

“Kysen and I wanted to be as active as we could on both ends of the floor,” Provance said. “I felt like we did OK with that in the first half, but I feel like we stepped it up another notch to start the third quarter. It also helps when you have a guy like Paxton who can fill it up. It felt like us big guys doing our job in the paint and on the boards helped open up a little more space for him to get going. Marquette has a bunch of really quick guys, so the focus was trying to keep them out of the lane, play good help side defense and then try and grab every rebound we could.”

Trainor paced Marquette with 23 points, with Alec Novotney adding 13 and Zellers seven. The Crusaders finished hitting 41% (20 of 49) from the field.

“The third quarter was the key tonight.” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Seneca was able to put together a little run there at the start and we hit a stretch where the ball just wouldn’t fall for us. But give credit to Seneca, especially their inside guys. They really hurt us rebounding the ball and we just gave them way too many second chances at the hoop.

“I very proud of the effort my guys gave tonight. They played hard and gave a great effort. We’ll see Seneca here in a couple weeks, so we’ll see what we can do the second time around.”

Giertz, Provance and Brady Sheedy, as well as Trainor and Novotney were named to the 10-player all-tournament team.

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Box score

97th Tri-County Conference Tournament

At R.M. Germano Gymnasium, Granville

Championship game

Seneca 68, Marquette Academy 54

MARQUETTE ACADEMY (54) — Trainor 9-16 3-3 23, Zellers 3-9 0-2 7, Novotney 4-11 2-3 13, Mullen 1-2 0-0 2, P. McGrath 1-3 0-1 2, H. McGrath 0-0 1-2 1, Dobberstein 2-6 0-1 6, Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0, Couch 0-1 0-0 0, Swords 0-0 0-0 0, Rix 0-0 0-0 0, Grady 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 6-12 54.

SENECA (68) — Klinker 6-7 0-0 12, Daggett 1-2 0-0 2, Giertz 10-22 6-8 32, Sheedy 0-5 2-2 2, Provance 6-12 6-8 18, Shriey 0-1 0-0 0, Siegel 0-0 2-2 2, Simek 0-0 0-0 0, Deering 0-1 0-0 0, Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Kleich 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 16-20 68.

Marquette Academy (14-7) 15 16 8 15 – 54

Seneca (18-7) 14 16 17 21 – 68

3-point shots — Marquette Academy 6-19 (Trainor 2-5, Zellers 1-4, Novotney 3-6, P. McGrath 0-2, Couch 0-1, Grady 0-1); Seneca 6-20 (Klinker 0-1, Daggett 0-1, Giertz 6-14, Sheedy 0-3, Deering 0-1). Rebounds — Marquette Academy 18 (Trainor 3, Zellers 3, Novotney 3, P. McGrath 3); Seneca 40 (Provance 14, Klinker 7, Giertz 6). Assists — Marquette Academy 7 (P. McGrath 3); Seneca 14 (Giertz 4, Sheedy 4, Klinker 3). Steals — Marquette Academy 4 (Novotney 2); Seneca 4 (Giertz 2). Blocks — Marquette Academy 0; Seneca 2 (Giertz 1, Provance 1). Turnovers — Marquette Academy 8; Seneca 10. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Marquette Academy 18; Seneca 12.