Boys basketball: Marquette trails at half, fights off fired-up Woodland for 53-41 triumph

RURAL STREATOR – When a team is at the top, it can expect every opponent’s best shot.

The eight-win Woodland Warriors gave exactly that to Tri-County Conference leader and Class 1A sub-sectional top seed Marquette on Friday night at the Warrior Dome, and the Crusaders survived that shot after trailing at halftime with a 53-41 victory to clinch a share of the TCC title.

“We just fought through it,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “I give a lot of credit to Woodland. They came to play. It was a great atmosphere, especially right before the regional. Give Connor [Kaminke, Woodland’s coach] and his kids credit. They played their butts off and gave us everything we wanted and then some.

“Now we want the whole [Tri-County Conference championship]. We’re going to go for that Tuesday [at home against Midland]. We had a little talk about it. We don’t want to share it with Seneca. That’s just the way it is.”

The Crusaders (22-5, 7-0 TCC) early on looked as if they’d have no trouble, scoring the night’s first 14 points, starting with a Logan Nelson 3-pointer 53 seconds in. After being held scoreless for the first 3:43, however, Woodland (8-19, 1-6) responded with a double-digit run of its own, scoring 11 straight, eventually catching Marquette at 16-16 on a Carter Ewing 3-pointer early in the second quarter and leading 24-23 at halftime.

“We were all really hyped and excited to play them again,” Woodland’s Connor Dodge said. “We didn’t know there was going to be this big of a crowd, and we fed off that and just played hard, but we fell short. We played hard, moved the ball and just played aggressive, not being scared of them.”

While the Warriors continued to fight tooth-and-nail, Marquette began pulling away in the third quarter. The key sequence came at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth. Alec Novotney drained a buzzer-beating 3 from the top to put the visitors ahead 36-30, and Marquette, led by Tommy Durdan, opened the fourth on a 10-0 run. Durdan scored seven in the third and all 17 of the Crusaders’ fourth-quarter points on his way to a game-high 29

“We knew they were going to come back,” said Nelson, who drained three first-quarter 3s to lead Marquette’s fast start. “We started out really hot, but shots weren’t falling after that. ... It was just a rough first half, but in the second half we came out and played better.

“It was just defense, second-half defense.”

By the time Jonathan Moore put in Woodland’s first points of the fourth on a tough take to the rim almost midway through the quarter, the Warriors faced a double-digit deficit and couldn’t climb back within striking range.

Marquette, which has beaten Woodland three times this season and could meet them again in the semifinals of the Class 1A Midland Regional if Woodland can defeat play-in game host St. Bede on Feb. 18, finished holding slight edges in shooting percentage (34.6%-31.4%), rebounds (34-31) and turnovers forced (13-11).

“If we see them again, that means we won our first-round game. If we can compete like that, I’d like to play this game again and again,” Kaminke said. “This was a regional-like environment tonight, a packed house, and we put on a show, even after starting down 14-0.

“I’m not a big moral victory guy, but tonight we left every single Woodland person in this gym, including myself, extremely proud.”

Durdan’s 29-point, five-steal performance led the way, with Nelson (nine points, two steals), Griffin Walker (six points, three assists), Taylor Waldron (seven rebounds, two blocked shots) and Alex Graham (four points) also leading the attack.

Dodge with 20 points and three steals, Moore with a double-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, Ewing with three points and Nick Plesko with two points and two assists led the Warriors.