MESSAGE RECEIVED: Griffin Dobberstein helps shoot Marquette past Woodland at TCC Tournament

GRANVILLE – Marquette sophomore guard Griffin Dobberstein received a text message before Tuesday’s quarterfinal game at the 98th Tri-County Conference Boys Basketball Tournament against Woodland.

“It was more a video clip than a text, but it was Duke coach Jon Scheyer and [Blue Devils star player] Cooper Flagg telling Kon Knueppel to ‘Score the basketball’ after he passed up an open shot against North Carolina State [on] Monday night, “ Dobberstein said. ”Our coaches sent it to everyone on the team with a message of ‘Be ready to play tonight.’ It was a reminder to always have trust and confidence in your teammates.”

[ Photos: Woodland vs. Marquette boys basketball in the Tri-County Conference Tournament ]

Dobberstein helped lead the No. 6-seeded Crusaders to a 58-46 victory over the No. 3-seeded Warriors by scoring a game-high 22 points – 11 in each half – including 6 of 9 shots from beyond the arc.

“This was really the first game all season where I felt my shot was in rhythm, and I haven’t really shot the ball that well the last couple of weeks. I love the rims here and had a couple of pretty good shooting games last year, so when I made my very first [3-point] shot tonight it was a huge confidence lift.

“It was such a tight game, and it wasn’t until about 30 seconds left that I was sure we were going to win this game.”

Marquette (11-11) will play No. 2 Roanoke-Benson in the championship bracket semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Woodland (15-6) – which saw a six-game winning streak end – falls to the consolation semifinals to play St. Bede at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The teams split their previous two meetings this season.

In what was a tight, back-and-forth game through three quarters, Dobberstein sank a 3 in the opening 15 seconds of the fourth to give Marquette a spark and 40-35 lead.

A 3-pointer by Woodland’s Connor Dodge and three-point play by teammate Brezdyn Simons cut the lead to 44-41 with six minutes to play. Marquette followed with a game-changing 10-0 run over the next five minutes featuring layups by Lucas Craig, Luke McCullough and Jaxon Rix, plus a 3 by Matthew Graham – his only points of the night.

“Dobber had a couple 3s at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to get us going, then Graham hit one that I felt really gave us the momentum,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Luke came in and gave us some really good minutes, and Craig had a big game for us.

“I thought we did a good job defensively. We wanted to limit Dodge (10 points), which I thought we did a good job with, but (Nick) Plesko (19 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals) hurt us, but he’s a really good ball player.

“We are playing better than we have in a while, and it was nice to get into the winner’s bracket.”

Craig backed Dobberstein, who also had four assists, with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Alec Novotney added 10 points and five rebounds. Graham and McCullough (five points, five rebounds) each recorded four assists.

“We played hard the whole game, but we lost discipline at key times and Marquette took advantage on almost every one of those moments,” Woodland coach Connor Kaminke said. “In the fourth quarter, they hit some big shots, including Graham, who I haven’t seen hit a 3 in any of the Marquette game films I’ve watched. They also used their height and toughness to take it to us. There were probably five possessions in the second half where we needed to get a stop defensively and Marquette scored on all five.

“On the offensive end, we just didn’t take the ball to the basket hard enough. We haven’t shot the ball that well the past few games from the perimeter, so we’ve preached taking the ball to the hoop. We were just too hesitant once we got into the lane.”