Boys basketball: Marquette, Seneca win season openers at Huskers Hardwood Tip-Off

SERENA – The boys basketball season opened Monday night at the first Huskers Hardwood Tip-Off Tournament with Marquette and Seneca picking up victories on Al Stegman Court over Erie-Prophetstown and Hall, respectively, in the final two pool play games. Somonauk defeated Newark in the evening’s first game.

The tournament continues Tuesday with one game as Parkview Christian plays Serena at 5:30 p.m., then on Wednesday, the schedule is Hall vs. Somonauk at 1 p.m., Seneca vs. Newark at 2:30 p.m., Marquette vs. Parkview Christian at 4 p.m., and Erie-Prophetstown vs. Serena at 5:30 p.m.

Marquette 46, Erie-Prophetstown 43

The Crusaders got off to a great start with Griffin Dobberstein scoring eight points to help Marquette push to a 15-9 lead. Marquette extended the advantage to 26-14 at the 2:30 mark of the second quarter on a layup by Alec Novotney. The Panthers responded with a 7-0 run – including a triple by Evan Steinle – to close to within 26-21 at halftime.

E-P grabbed its first lead of the contest on a drive by Connor Keegan midway through the third, but a 10-foot jumper by Marcus Baker in the final seconds gave Marquette a 35-34 lead. The Crusaders led 46-43 after a free throw by Dobberstein with 4.7 seconds remaining, and a 40-footer at the buzzer by the Panthers was just long at the horn.

Dobberstein led Marquette with a game-best 19 points and six rebounds, Novotney added 15 points and six steals, and Baker and Ashton Grady chipped in four points each.

“I thought we came out and played a pretty good first quarter but then kind of let our guard down a little,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Give [E-P] credit for closing the gap before halftime and then kicking our butt in the third. We were lucky to get out of here with a win. We have to do a better job stopping runs like they went on just before halftime and also coming out in second halves ready to go.

“I thought [Jaxon] Rix and Baker did a really good job for us in the post, and Dobberstein had a good start and then did a good job of keeping us in it in the second half. We didn’t shoot as well as we would have liked (17 of 49, 35%), but that will come as we start to get our legs under us.”

Steimie led the Panthers with 14 points and four rebounds, with Derek Naftzger posting nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Keegan and Winckler both had eight points for E-P.

“We have a pretty young group, no seniors, so to play with senior-led team like Marquette the way we did in the first game of the season is hopefully a sign of good things to come,” E-P coach Ryan Winckler said. “When we got down 12 points there with three minutes to play in the first half, last year that would have more than likely turned into a 17- or 18-point game, but we were able to cut it to five before halftime and then really did what we want to do in the third quarter.

“We had sometime turnovers in key times that hurt us, but I can’t fault the effort my guys gave. I thought we did a good job of getting to the basket, which is what we want to do. They played really hard for 32 minutes, competed and were a shot away at the buzzer from playing at least four more minutes.”

Seneca 69, Hall 45

Seneca’s Paxton Giertz popped in 14 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter to help push his team to a 19-11 lead. Hall was able to cut the disadvantage to 31-20 late in the first half, but back-to-back hoops by Sebastian Deering gave the Fighting Irish a 35-23 lead at the intermission. Seneca then used a 12-0 run, half on Giertz hoops, early in the third to push its lead to over 20.

After Giertz, Brady Sheedy had 12 points and six rebounds, and Deering nine points and four rebounds.

“We moved pretty quick tonight, and I knew that would be one of our strengths this season,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said. “We have post players that are pretty athletic and fast guards. Beyond the points, I thought Pax made a ton of great decisions with the basketball. We want him to get to the rim, but when he can’t he does a great job of finding the open teammate. I most happy about how our back line guys played, guys like Grant Siegel, Zeb Maxwell and Sebastian Deering. They did a great job on defense and rebounded well.

“I thought we did a good job in our 1-2-2 defensive ball press. We haven’t really worked on it as much as I would have liked, and that’s been kind of the staple for us the past few seasons, but I thought we did a good job of getting tips, getting steals and then pushing the ball in transition. Other than a three-minute lapse I thought we played a pretty solid ballgame.”

Wyatt West led Hall with 18 points, including three 3s, and seven rebounds, while Jack Jablonski added eight points and six rebounds.

“This was Game 1, but we turned the ball over way too much and had guys on the defensive end that didn’t look like they knew what we were trying to do,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “We had a tough draw with Seneca right away. They are probably the best team we’ll face this week and have the best player [Giertz], a kid that’s going to set their program’s all-time scoring record, we’ll face as well. All that said, I didn’t feel we played as good of defense as we can, and I can tell you that’s what we will be working on for the majority of practice on Tuesday.

“We have a relatively young team, so this was a good learning experience for them. We’ll keep working to get better.”