Boys basketball: Marquette’s speed, depth whips St. Bede

PERU – Just a cursory look at the Marquette boys basketball roster would make it obvious to anyone familiar with local sports that the Crusaders will be tough to handle because of the number of talented and speedy athletes.

But if they can match the hunger and energy they showed in their season opener at St. Bede on Tuesday night, all the teams on their schedule had better watch out.

After spending the entire preseason and the first week of the regular season beating up on each other in practice, the Crusaders were unleashed on an opponent for the first time and were extremely impressive, bursting out to the game’s 16 of the first 19 points on its way to a 24-6 lead after one quarter, then put the game away with a 36-18 second half for an easy 72-38 victory over the Bruins.

Coach Todd Hopkins substituted five players at a time throughout to keep his club fresh enough to be aggressive end line to end line. They forced 18 Bruin turnovers, outrebounded the home team 39-25 and got 11 different players in the scoring column on the night.

Tommy Durdan tossed in 14 points, Charlie Mullen 12 points with five rebounds and Logan Nelson nine points to pace Marquette’s balanced team effort.

Tops for the Bruins with a game-best 15 points was Isaiah Hart, despite missing a good chunk of the third period with an ankle injury.

“I’ve been watching the way these guys have been getting after each other and we really needed to play somebody … The start was awesome,” Hopkins said “We let that (St. Bede) team that’s off to a great 3-1 start that we’ve been itching to play, too, and that this was our night … The second quarter was a little sloppy. Give St. Bede credit for that – the Hart kid is a good player – but we got through it and did a good job in the third quarter to seal it.

“This is a whole different style for all of us and I’m not saying we’re going to do this every game, but it’s something we think we can do to stay fresh … For right now, it’s a good start.”

Helped by four St. Bede turnovers in the first 2 minutes, 18 seconds of the game, Marquette got scores from four players to lead 9-0 before John Brady hit a free throw. Half the quarter was gone before Hart got their first field goal and, shortly after that, the Cru’s Caden Eller put back a rebound and Mullen sank a free throw for a 16-3 Cru lead.

Pete McGrath’s buzzer-beating 3 widened it to 24-6 after one.

The Bruins made it tougher in the second quarter by crashing the boards harder and keeping the ball in the hands of Hart and Connor Brown, who each tossed in six points in the period to get the hosts as close as 32-20.

But in the third stanza, Durdan nailed two tosses, a cut down the lane and a converted steal to suddenly open up a 44-24 advantage just two minutes in. Mullen’s nine second-half points helped the visitors keep St. Bede at arm’s length the rest of the way.

“Early, if Marquette didn’t get the initial bucket, they were getting the putback and against their man press we were going a lot slower,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said. “In the second quarter, we looked like we could get it to 10 or under before the half because we were getting a few rebounds and we were able to get the ball out and go where. We got some buckets in transition and played more the way we like it … We have to work on getting off to faster starts.

“Marquette was just hungry to play, definitely, and they played a heckuva game. They’re strong, quick and they get up and down the floor and we got banged around a little bit, so that’s a good team that’s only going to get better and better.”