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Boys Basketball: Marmion advances to DeKalb semis
Updated: December 26, 2011 4:36PM
As tourney starts go, Marmion coach Ryan Paradise couldn’t ask for much more.
His Cadets got another strong performance off the bench from junior guard Alex Theisen Monday and completed a perfect 3-0 run through the C Pool of the 84th annual Chuck Dayton Tournament in DeKalb with a 59-52 win over Sterling.
“We were just running our offense, cutting to the basket and I was fortunate my teammates made some good passes,” said Theisen, who had 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
Marmion turned the ball over 14 times in the first half but was still clinging to a 26-25 lead at the break.
Pete Stefanski, who finished with 15 points, drained a three-pointer with 4:03 left in the third to tie it at 32-all when Theisen turned it up a notch. He flashed to the basket off a screen and went down the right side of the lane on back-to-back possessions, taking passes from Colin Kavanaugh and Stefanski and converting them for easy layups.
Theisen then drove and dished to Jeff Garofalo, who drained a three-pointer with 1:33 left in the quarter for a 39-33 lead. The Cadets carried the same margin into the fourth.
The final period was more of the same as Theisen drained a three-pointer and hit a floater in the lane. He also made 10 of 12 free throws to help seal the verdict.
“I thought Alex did a good job of attacking the basket the whole game and we took a lot better care of the ball in the second half (10 turnovers),” said Paradise.
The Cadet defense, trapping the Golden Warrior guards, also shined. Sterling turned the ball over seven times in the third quarter and seven in the fourth after committing 10 in the first half.
“It was a little trap out of our man-to-man,” said Paradise. “We were not getting too cute, we just wanted to keep constant ball pressure on them throughout.”
Forward Alex Petrosky led Sterling (8-5 overall, 1-2 tournament) with 15 points. Forward Chris Fritsch had 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough.
Marmion, now 7-5 overall, got nine points from Garofalo and eight from A.J. Bohr and won the game at the free-throw line by converting 14 of 19 while the Golden Warriors could hit just four of 13.
“I don’t know who we play yet, but I know we’ll be playing at 5 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. (in one of two semifinals) tomorrow,” said Paradise. “What’s nice is we’re making progress each game.”
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