Explorers Bow Out to Nashville in Sectional Finals
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DUQUOIN - The Marquette Catholic Explorers pride themselves defensively, which had gotten them all the way to 30 wins and a shot at the super sectionals.
However, they ran into a taller and physically imposing Nashville squad that was able to counter their defensive pressure and play solid D as well.
A low-scoring encounter, the Hornets were able to suffocate the Explorers offense due to a total team effort in a 37-22 victory in the Class 2A Du Quoin Sectional Finals on Friday night.
Nashville (33-2), who are ranked No. 1 in the state, will play No. 7 Teutopolis (29-5) in the Carbondale Super-Sectional at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the SIU Arena. The Wooden Shoes defeated Fairfield 55-47 to win the Vandalia Sectional Championship on Friday.
"It was really tough for us to get anything. They're just so tall," Marquette coach Steve Medford said of Nashville. "I thought we could get some more post feeds, and maybe get them off the bounce. I knew their length would be a problem, but I didn't realize how physical they were on top of how long they were. Just a very well sound defensive team, and I'd be surprised if that team didn’t win state. Great team, great program.”
Nashville, who led the entire way, got a game-high of 12 points each by 6-foot-5 junior guard Carson Parker and senior Kelton Harre. Another 6-foot-5 guard Bryce Bultman added eight points and junior point guard Tristen Hercules chipped in five.
Marquette Catholic's Nick Hemann, a 6-foot-6 senior center, finished with nine points while sophomore point guard Cortez Harris and junior Spencer Cox each tallied five.
Medford wanted to grab an early lead and shorten the game as much as possible. The Explorers had two possessions in the first quarter that lasted more than two minutes but scored on neither. A three-pointer by senior guard Chris Hartrich was their only points. However, they trailed 4-3 heading into the second quarter.
“We knew that if we were going to play up and down all night, it would probably favor them,” Medford said. “The big thing was we wanted to get a lead, whether it was 4-0 or 6-0. We wanted to shorten the game. We thought there were a few matchups we could expose, but unfortunately, we could never get the lead. The margin of error in this game was really small.”
“I felt, honestly, the longer this game stayed close, the more pressure (Nashville) would feel. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it close enough.”
That goes back to the patient and precision defense displayed by the Hornets, who were well aware that Marquette would try to take their time and milk the clock whenever the ball was in their hands.
"We didn't want to give up any easy baskets," Nashville head coach Wayne Harre said. "They run their offense so precise, and I thought we did a tremendous job of not backing down. I want to give a shoutout to my assistants. They did a tremendous job of preparing this team for this game. They deserve a lot of credit, the same with our kids for buying into it. I just thought our defense was tremendous.”
The Hornets, who never trailed, got game-highs of 12 points by 6-foot-5 junior guard Carson Parker and senior guard Kelton Harre. Bryce Bultman added eight points.
A three-pointer by Harre put Nashville up 9-3, and a Bultman layup made it 15-7 before halftime. The Hornets momentum and execution carried over into the second half and expanded their lead to 23-11.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Marquette got down by as many as 16 points at 30-14. However, they wouldn’t go away quietly. Harris splashed in a three-pointer, and two more baskets cut the deficit to 30-22 with 3:20 to play. That also allowed the Explorers to set up their press, but the Hornets expertly evaded it thanks to their length combined with intelligent passing and awareness.
"We did a good job of throwing over it and coming back to get it," Harre said. "I thought we made some good decisions when they tried to speed us up and we made good decisions to slow it down after halfcourt."
"It's hard to talk without getting emotional about them because they're good, high-quality kids," Medford said. "I'm going to miss them a lot; they've meant a lot to this program."
Few expected Marquette to have close to a similar record like they had the last two seasons going a combined 59-5 after losing four starters to graduation and/or transferring away. Medford and his staff admitted they were surprised to finish with one more victory than last year’s 29-1 team.
“Every year you go through your staff and figure out what are some games we could possibly win or lose,” Medford said. “Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we could get to 30 wins. The way that we went about it, they prepared the right way and were consistently good at practicing the right way. That’s pretty much been our program the last two or three years. I’m excited about the program.”
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