Marquette battles, comes up short at Roanoke-Benson

ROANOKE – It’s certainly no fun coming away with moral victories in really close games, but Marquette coach Todd Hopkins is probably right when he said the experience his Crusaders are picking up in this really tough early season stretch is going to pay off in the long run.

Against Tri-County Conference unbeaten Roanoke-Benson, the Cru did a lot of things right – shooting 59% from the field, outrebounding the home team 26-18 and coming up with key defensive stops several times down the stretch in regulation and overtime.

But in what seems like a recurring nightmare for Marquette, the Rockets for the night connected on 17 of 27 free throws – five each in the fourth period and in overtime – to only eight in nine tries for the visitors, allowing R-B to come away with a 57-54 overtime win Friday.

“I’m tired of saying it, but it’s the truth: we’re close to turning the corner, Hopkins said. “I love the effort … Tonight we went toe-to-toe with them on the road and though there are some things we definitely have to clean up, this is all valuable experience. Playing in a game like this, getting defensive stops, hitting some big shots, getting to overtime and having a chance at the end, it was big.

“We had a few possessions in the third and fourth quarters where we’re up three and throw the ball away, they hit a 3 and all the sudden we’re tied. Simple thing, but we have to get better running our stuff, to be more crisp and clean with it. It’ll get better.”

Alec Novotney led the locals with 19 points and six rebounds, while Griffin Dobberstein chipped in 14 points and Lucas Craig 13 for Marquette, which connected on 22 of 39 tries from the field.

However, it had several of its 17 turnovers at crucial times, helping R-B get a key bucket or second chance shot instead of helping Marquette widen the gap.

In the win, Landon Martin netted 14 points, including three free throws in OT, and Jack Leman added 11, the last on two tosses in the extra session to seal the Rockets' third T-C win in as many games.

Helping the Crusaders fall to 4-7, 0-3 in the Tri-County was the fact that it was called for 27 fouls and lost Matt Graham and Easton Debernardi with five each, with the hosts whistled for 17 fouls.

The contest was nip-and-tuck throughout, with Marquette enjoying a six-point edge on back-to-back buckets by Novotney early in the second quarter, then the Rockets leading by as many as four on a 3-pointer by Kaden Harms late in the third.

Down the stretch, a clutch 3 by Dobberstein, a pair of tosses by Leyton Harms with 1:46 left and a jumper by Novotney with 50 seconds left knotted the score at 52.

However, his last-second steal and three-quarter court heave bounced off the rim at the final horn.

In OT, three tosses by Martin offset two from Novotney, leaving the Cru one point short, but two more freebies by Leman with 42.9 to go proved the clincher.

Novotney did manage an off-balance trey at the buzzer, but it was off the mark.

“It’s not like we’re shooting a lot of 3s. We’re taking the ball to the rim and we’re getting the ball close,” Hopkins said. “It’s like the free throws. The ball’s not bouncing in our favor right now and the only way to get that back is to go full steam and make things come your way. The effort is definitely there.

“But no one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to get out of this ourselves.”