12-20-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
ROXANA – The word is out about the boy's basketball team that calls Marquette Catholic High School in Alton, Illinois its home.

That word on Tuesday night in its contest against Roxana would be “dominating.”

Coach Steve Medford's Explorers exploded in the second quarter, breaking away from the host Shells in a commanding 64-32 win in a South Central Conference West matchup.

The young guns from Alton went on a 16-1 run to open the second quarter and breezed to an easy win on the road.

Four players hit for double-figures in scoring for the now 10-0 Marquette squad.

Jake Coddington, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, led the way with 16-points while sophomore guards Deion Lavender and D'Tae McMurray added 14 and 13 respectively in the triumph.

Six-foot-two junior guard Sam Scheiter chipped in 10 for the Explorers.

“Our sophomores on the team are starting to learn how to play defense better and that is something that we pride ourselves on. Playing well on the defensive end,” said Coach Medford. “We had a big second quarter and we've got some kids that can shoot it. It was a huge second quarter for us.”

Roxana was led by 6-foot-8 junior center Hunter Reine with 16-points and 11-rebounds.

But no other Shells' player got to double-figures as Roxana was outscored 52-19 in the final three quarters after a strong start.

Coach Mark Briggs witnessed his club jump out to an early lead but the Shells faltered badly in the second quarter and never recovered.

“We were hoping that Coddington would not make his first couple of shots because we had Reine playing a zone down there (in the paint) because they (Marquette) do such a nice job attacking the rim,” said Coach Briggs. “We wanted to take away their penetration baskets. We were hoping Coddington wouldn't hurt us but he did.”

Jordan Briggs, a 6-foot junior guard, nailed a 3-pointer early in the first frame and later added a lay in on a pass from Reine to even the score at nine with 3:16 left.

Reine hit the offensive boards for a couple of early scores as it appeared that Roxana was going to make a game of it on this night.

After a driving lay in by Luke Chairney gave the Shells a 13-12 lead at the first horn, the wheels came off the wagon.

Getting just a single made free throw from Reine and going 0-of-10 from the field, the second quarter collapse put Roxana down 28-14 at the half.

“That (the second quarter) was the difference tonight. If we would have went 4-for-10 or 3-for-10 from the field in the second quarter then maybe we are just down seven at halftime,” added Coach Briggs. “But it didn't work out that way. We didn't make shots and they do. They (Marquette) got some easy shots in the second quarter and they are just tough to guard.”

Marquette launched its offensive attack with Coddington and Scheiter both hitting early shots in the second quarter.

Scheiter took a nifty behind-the-back pass from McMurray for a fast break score and a 16-13 lead.

After the Reine free throw cut the Roxana deficit to just 18-14, Marquette went on a 10-0 sprint.

Scheiter scored two more times and Mike Williams-Bey also had a bucket.

Those two scored the final two baskets of the quarter, both on fast breaks off of Roxana turnovers forced by the Explorers.

Scheiter stole the ball from a Roxana player who fed McMurray who, in turn, found Williams-Bey for a lay in and a 26-14 lead.

Scheiter scored the final points of the frame on a nice assist from Lavender to close the half with a 14-point spread.

“We get out in transition and I would like to see us be able to do that more,” Medford explained. “We created some turnovers and got out in transition. We took care of it (the basketball) tonight and we've got some guards who can take care of it.”

The Shells wouldn't recover as Marquette poured it on in the final 16-minutes.

While his teammates were getting points off of transition, Coddington did most of his damage in half-court sets.

Coddington netted 11 of his points in the second half.

He opened the third quarter with a short jumper from the right baseline before McMurray followed up with a score off of yet another Roxana miscue.

McMurray hit two more 3-pointers and Coddington closed out the stanza with a conventional three-point play after being fouled by Matt Hartnett.

His made free throw ended the third quarter at 46-23.

“In the first quarter they were playing man-to-man but they were letting Reine just stay in the middle so we put Coddington out a little bit higher and out on the wings and he knocked down some shots. I was surprised they left him alone,” added Coach Medford. “We've got a mix of kids that can score the basketball.”

Marquette hit 17-of-19 free throws in the contest, including 11-of-12 in the final quarter.

Six-foot-three junior forward Jack Miller scored eight points in the game, including 6-of-6 charity attempts as Marquette stayed unbeaten.

Marquette has raced out to these 10-wins without the services of 1,000-point scorer and senior leader Derrik Starrett, who made his first appearance of the season in the final moments of the game.

Starrett is recovering from a broken ankle suffered playing football in the fall and isn't 100 percent yet.

The Explorers finished the game 20-of-41 from the field overall while hitting 7-of-15 from behind the arc.

McMurray and Lavender each hit three 3's.

Marquette was credited with eight steals in the game with Scheiter leading the way with three pilfers.

Roxana was “ice cold” from the field, connecting on just 14-of-52 shots overall (27 percent) and just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.

This poor shooting carried over to the foul line as the Shells were just 3-of-10 on freebies.

The Explorers outrebounded the Shells 28-25 and forced 13 turnovers.

Marquette took exceptional care of the ball on Tuesday night, with just eight turnovers.

Coach Medford's undefeated squad is the top-seed at the Columbia/Freeburg Holiday Tournament which begins next Tuesday.

Roxana saw its mark slip to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in the SCC West.

The Shells next action will be at the Carrollton Holiday Tournament next week.

“We need to keep practicing and keep playing together and hope that these kids get better,” finalized Coach Briggs. “If we are going to win games we have to get better. All four of our losses have been the same way. A lot of emphasis (from the opponent) has been on our inside game (Reine) and our guards are just not knocking down shots. There isn't much flow to our game.”

Marquette Catholic (64) – McMurray 1 3 2-2 13, Scheiter 5 0 0-0 10, Lavender 0 3 5-6 14, Williams-Bey 1 0 1-2 3, Peuterbaugh 0 0 0-0 0, Coddington 5 1 3-3 16, Young 0 0 0-0 0, Starrett 0 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 0 6-6 8, Hoefield 0 0 0-0 0, Cummings 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13, 3FG-7, FT-17-19, PF-14.
Roxana (32) – Chairney 1 0 0-0 2, McCalley 0 0 0-0 0, McPeck 1 0 0-0 2, Groves 0 0 1-2 1, Wallace 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Sheets 0 0 0-1 1, Hartnett 2 0 0-2 4, Briggs 2 1 0-1 7, Lavite 0 0 0-0 0, Reine 7 0 2-4 16. 2FG-13, 3FG-1, FT-3-10, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Reine - Roxana.