This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Marquette Boys Cannot Keep Pace With Chaminade

Marquette falls to unbeaten Chaminade, 75-45, in a Class 5 sectional matchup at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The found out the hard way that there's more to the than Bradley Beal.

The Mustangs, at least for a half, did what no other opponent could do to the All-American Beal. They contained and for all intents and purposes, shut down the University of Florida-bound guard.

However, fellow senior Tevin Evans picked up the slack in the first half, then Beal began to light it up in the third quarter as the duo combined for 53 points on the night.

Find out what's happening in Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The unbeaten Red Devils ran away from the upset-minded Mustangs in the second half for a 75-45 victory in a Class 5 sectional matchup Wednesday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Mark Twain Building.

The Red Devils (27-0) thus earn a quarterfinal matchup with McCluer North, a 63-51 winner Wednesday over Cape Central, Saturday at 1 p.m. at UMSL.

Find out what's happening in Chesterfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Marquette, which ended its season at 18-11, held Beal, who came in averaging 32.8 points per game, to four points on 1 of 6 shooting in the first half. It was a constant double-team, with freshman Garrett Roberts, junior Jordan Singer or junior Mitchell Cox as part of the tandem trying to slow down the Beal Express.

It worked, at least to a certain degree.

"A game like this, you try to take away a strength and hope that another strength doesn't come through, and early on, it didn't," Marquette coach Shane Matzen said. "They missed some shots and then later on it did.

"If we play defense like we normally play -- and we play good defense -- we weren't going to beat them. We tried to win this game, so we did stuff that we had not done all year and I can't tell you how proud I am of how my kids executed the game plan."

So Marquette had to pick its poison defensively, and in turn, it was Evans, who led all scorers with 27 points. He carried the load with 14 first-half points as the Red Devils led 28-22 but were being pushed to the brink by the underdog Mustangs.

"I'm really, really hungry and humble," Evans said of his recent performances, including a 16-point effort in an 80-76 win over Webster Groves Saturday in the district final. "That's all I'm trying to do is stay focused."

Marquette had a choice. The team decided to swarm Beal.

"What are you going to do, switch on Evans and leave the All-American all alone? It is what it is," Matzen said. "You've just got to do the best you can.

"I hate playing hope basketball, but you almost have to with this team. You've got to hope that something else doesn't come through. We hoped and it didn't work very well for us."

Said Chaminade coach Kelvin Lee, "That's what it takes, someone other than Bradley, of course. ... That's what (Evans) had to do. Between him and Luke (Bumgarner) and (Andrew) Kleinlein, they have to hit shots. Bradley's going to see some double-teams. When they hit shots, we're fine."

Whether it was Marquette's defense or the fact Chaminade couldn't make many first-half shots, the Mustangs, who were led by junior center Ryan Rosberg's 18 points, were doing everything possible to make believers out of the jammed crowd watching the first half.

"We strive on not being scared of anyone," Rosberg said. "We know they're undefeated; they're nationally ranked. We tried not to let that get to us. We came out like we could play with them. The first half, I think we were right there. We tried to execute our game plan. We didn't back down.

"We've been in spots before in close games towards the end. They've been blowing everyone out, so we thought maybe our advantage would be for it to come down to the end and we would have a shot. That didn't happen unfortunately."

Matzen agreed.

"We felt like if we can keep them in the halfcourt, then we had a chance," Matzen said. "But I think we gave up 15 points off our bad passes, our fumbles, and you take away 15 points and make them play half-court basketball and let Ryan and my other big kids a chance to rebound … it's really hard to close out on a guy shooting a layup.

"You try to stay within striking distance and hope that they get a little uptight. But they don't because they're really good."

The Red Devils are good, and they got the gears cranked up in the final 16 minutes. After only shooting 33 percent in the first half (10-for-30), Chaminade knocked down 57 percent (16-for-28) of their shots in the second half, and Beal, who finished with 26 points, had a little something to do with that.

"It was more pick-and-roll with me and (senior teammate Brendan) Kelly," said Beal, who was 5-for-5 shooting and had 18 points in the third quarter. "Coach Lee told me to be aggressive and make a smart play. When I was open, he said knock down a shot, but at the same time, I was kicking it out to my other players."

Added Lee, "We started making shots. In the beginning, we didn't make shots. We got open, but we just weren't making them. Once we made shots, we're a better team because we can set our defense from there.

"(Beal) was disappointed in himself. Our mental makeup wasn't where it should have been in the first half. ... Once he gets it going, I don't have to worry about Bradley. He starts lighting it up."

It was obvious that the Red Devils were going to have to get Beal some different looks in the second half, ones he wasn't seeing in the opening 16 minutes.

"When me and Brad are both going, I don't think there's too many teams in St. Louis that can stop us," Evans said. "When we're both going, that's a good thing for the whole team."

The Mustangs, who came in allowing only 43.7 points per game, simply ran out of gas in the second half. They turned it over 21 times to Chaminade's 10. And Chaminade, which came in averaging 75.8 points per game, finally hit its stride.

"I feel bad for my kids. Somebody's going to open up the paper (Thursday), see a 30-point game (and) will not understand what we did tonight," Matzen said. "Proud is the key word tonight.

"We might play this team 100 times and win two. Tonight wasn't one of those two times."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Chesterfield