by Mari Radtke
MMCRU took the court against Marquette Catholic on Wednesday March 11 at Casey’s Center in Des Moines. The Royals won the opening tip, but a bad pass underneath gave the ball to Marquette and was converted. The Royals went up 3-2 on an Eli Schlenger outside shot. The Royals used high pressure to keep Mohawks from setting up offense. The Royals play took them to an 8-4 lead in the first but a 3 closed the gap. The teams traded 2-pointers down to a Royals’ time out at 2:26 when the Royals fell behind 11-10 following a Jsoh Peterson blocked shot that was batted to a Royal that was taken away by a Mohawk for an easy 2.
Coming in off the TO Marquette scored a deep outside 3. The Royals got an inside 2 that was answered by Marquette. A bad pass turned it over the Marquette. A steal by Schmillen took it all the way but it didn’t fall. A battle for rebounds kept up ending with it finally going out of bounds off Royals. The quarter ended with a Mohawk lead, 16-12.
Marquette inbounded to open the second and failed to score. A missed MMCRU shot was headed back to Marquette’s basket but they threw it away. The Royals couldn’t convert. The Mohawks went to the line too often and made it work for them. At 4:58 to go in the second Marquette had a 21-12 lead.
A bad Marquette pass was recovered by the Royals who converted but were matched by the Mohawks. The Royals scored again, but really struggled to get the ball to fall. The Royals were getting second chances on good rebounding, but that was inconsistent at this point in the game.
A MMCRU TO at 3:10 to go had a 23-16 Marquette lead. MMCRU closed a 10 point deficit to 4. A Mohawk 3 unanswered and then a 2 put them back up by 9. Marquette scored a half time buzzer beater takinga 31-20 score to the lockeroom.
It was MMCRU ball to open the second half. Royals’ high pressure forced Marquette to call a TO to prevent a turnover from a 10-second call. Marquette struck first with an inside 2. MMCRU defense came back to life with back-to-back steals. Good patience on the Royals’ offense, but the shots just weren’t falling. An Alesch steal converted. The score closed to 26-33. Marquette went to the line scoring 2. Down on the Royals’ end, Mulder was fouled and converted 1. Kamden Bork, who has been pretty quiet most of the game, was fouled while shooting. It was good for 2. A missed 3 by the Mohawks gave Bork a rebound. He took it all the way, missed, rebounded his own miss and got the 2. With 3:11 to go in the 3rd the Royals were closing the gap. The score during a cleanup TO was 37-31. A questionable foul against Bork while working a press against Louie Gunner gave Marquette the ball. They scored a 3. Wyatt Alesch went to the line adding 2.
Bork scored 2 on a long pass from Schmillen closing the score again, 40-35. Mohawks answered with a 3. Royals answered with a 3. Score with 1:07 to go is 43-38. Marquette committed their 5th team foul against Schmillen, sending him to the line. He converted 2. The Mohawks missed and a rebound melee followed with the Royals coming up with it and in a great position to drive. TO was called breaking the momentum with 11 seconds to go in the 3rd. Score was sitting at 45-39.
The 4th quarter started with some back and forth scoring. With Royals’ possession at 6 minutes to go the score sat at 49-43 and got a pass taken away leading to a Royals foul by Peterson under the Mohawks basket. It was Peteson’s 4th. Schlenger came in for him. A stolen ball resulted in a Mohawk score. Another interrupted pass and a fould gave the Mohawks the ball. The score sat at 52-43. The Roayls threw away another pass. Royals’ pressure kept the ball from moving. Marquette called a TO. The clock sat at 4:30. The Royals pressure was taking time off the clock and keeping the Mohawks and finally got a steal. A missed shot resulted in the Marquette’s possession. Peterson went inside on a drive and got fouled. Both free throws missed but an offensive rebound netted the 2 by Bork. Game score with 3:34 at 52-45 following 2 from the line. A bad Royals’ pass went to Mohawks who traveled and turned possession back. A missed shot was rebounded by Marquette. He stepped out of bounds to give it back to the Blue. The Royals converted. Marquette answered. After an Alesch pair of free throws the score sat at 55-48. Marquette moved it to 57 and went to the line with 2:13 to go. The free trip made the score 59-48. Schmillen scored with 1:25 going to 59-52. Kamden Bork fouled out. Tough Royals’ defense took the clock to :49 and a Mulder fould sent Mohawks to the line. Alesch got the ball down court and scored. With :35 to go the score sat at 61-54. Free throws to stop the clock added to the Marquette advantage. Schmillen scored a quick 2 and Kuchel called a quick TO. More free throws gave the Marquette Catholic Mohawks a 65-56 win.