Behind Joseph Kramer’s 3-point barrage Marmion pulls away from Marquette in fourth

OTTAWA – A quartet of Marquette Academy turnovers in the opening couple minutes of the fourth quarter were rough enough on the Crusaders' hopes of sticking with visiting Marmion Academy on Tuesday at Bader Gym.

A trio of deadeye 3-pointers from Cadets sophomore Joseph Kramer quickly turned what had been a competitive game through three quarters into a suddenly one-sided nonconference victory for Marmion, 70-43, the Cadets outscoring Marquette by 20 points in the final quarter of their 27-point win.

“Getting stops and then getting down the floor and Caden [Anderson, who finished with a game-best seven assists], especially, getting me the ball, finding me open gives me the confidence that I can knock down the shots,” said Kramer, who finished 9-of-12 shooting on the night including 6-of-8 from the 3-point arc.

Kramer – who scored in every quarter, also adding a pair of 3s in the second and one in the third - finished with a game-high 24 points, nine of those coming in the early fourth with the host Crusaders still within arm’s length despite trailing throughout. Marmion led 13-11 through one quarter and 30-25 at halftime before taking a 44-37 advantage into the fourth.

“We know it’s very difficult to play here,” Cadets coach Joe Piekarz said, “and we know Marquette’s tough, that they battle. They’re never going to make anything easy. The score maybe doesn’t reflect how well Marquette battled today.

“We have that ability [to pull away quickly]. We’ve got shooters, we have guys who can knock down those shots, and we can make some runs like that sometimes. ... When you’ve got a hot hand and Joey is knocking down shots like that, good things can happen.”

Caden Anderson added 15 points to his seven assists. Samuel Dalmann contributed a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double for Marmion (9-7).

For Marquette (7-10), Griffin Dobberstein scored 16 points and Alec Novotney a dozen to go with his team-best six rebounds and three assists. The Crusaders were outshot from the field 44.3%-33.3%, outrebounded 32-29 and lost the turnovers battle 21-7.

“Give them credit,” Cru coach Todd Hopkins said of the Cadets. “They’re on you the whole game, but I thought the first three quarters we played pretty well. ... They just kind of wore us out and made that run where we turn it over three times and they hit three 3s. It kind of got away from us.

“For three [quarters], we’ll take it. We’ve got to find a way to put four together. I think it’s close.”

Despite dominating the statistics and eventually the final score, for most of the evening Marquette managed to stay close to the Cadets.

The hosts led 18-17 midway through the second quarter on a Dobberstein 3 off a nice-look Novotney assist, but then allowed a 10-0 Marmion run. The Cadets gapped the Crusaders again in the third, extending their lead to as many as 11 points (36-25) just to see Marquette battle back again and draw as close as four (41-37) late in the third.

A strong finish to the third for the Cadets and the disastrous start to the fourth for Marquette waxed the Marmion advantage quickly to double digits, then 20 and finally to 27 with both benches emptied for the final two minutes.

Marmion is scheduled back in action Friday at Aurora Central Catholic.

The Crusaders return home to Bader to host rival St. Bede Academy on Friday.