Marquette knocks off Riverside
A week ago Milwaukee Marquette opened the season and, in coach Casey Kowalewski’s words, got punched in the gut. Saturday the Hilltoppers came out swinging, so to speak.
The defending Greater Metro champion started fast against Milwaukee Riverside at the Terry Porter Classic at Milwaukee South before holding off the defending City champion in the second half and scoring a 56-48 victory.
Senior forward Ryan Coffey finished with 19 points for the Hilltoppers. Niko Kerschner, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, added 10 points for Marquette, which lost by 27 points to Madison East on Nov. 26.
“It was kind of a wakeup call for our guys,” Kowalewski said of his team’s season-opening loss. “We had everything to work on. We’re a young team in terms of varsity experience.”
The game was a rematch of the sectional final of last season, but both teams took the floor with a much different look than what folks saw in March.
Marquette, which beat Riverside for a trip to the state tournament, graduated almost all of its top players. Riverside, meanwhile, returned Iowa State recruit Terrence Lewis but is very much a team in transition due to the loss of two key players to transfer, a broken wrist by returning starter Alondes Williams and the absence of all-City guard Carlos Curtis, whom coach Tyrone “Rock” Lewis said was held out of the game by his parents.
Marquette took control of the game with a 14-0 run that started 7 minutes into the contest.
It was during that run that the Hilltoppers’ size and ability to finish inside, characteristics it didn’t take advantage of last week, paid dividends.
The 6-5 Coffey completed a three-point play during that run, 6-7 junior Liam Schroeder had a putback and 6-6 senior Justin Novotny scored inside.
A three-pointer by senior guard William Barbera capped the run and gave the Hilltoppers a 27-11 lead with 5 minutes 17 seconds left in the half.
Kowalewski, however, thought his team’s play on the other end of the floor was key as well.
“We were very disciplined on defense, not letting them get secondchance points, keying in on Terrence. Terrence is a ridiculous player. He doesn’t need a lot of space to get his shot. He doesn’t take bad shots, so we had to key in on him a lot.” Kowalewski said.
Lewis finished with 27 points for Riverside, which picked up its pressure defensively and pulled within four points on a couple of occasions. His free throws with 5:50 to play made it a 50-44 game, but three turnovers in the next four possessions helped prevent the team from getting any closer.
Milwaukee Washington 82, Westchester (Ill.) St. Joseph 81: Washington wasn’t at full strength, but it’s No. 1 option played his first game of the season and made a major difference.
Battling an illness, sophomore wing Deontay Long totaled 27 points, five rebounds and eight assists to lead the Purgolders to a comeback victory. They trailed, 10-3, early, took the lead late in the first half and never gave it up in the second.
Junior guard Jordan Dinsmore added 13 points and sophomore guard Johntae Martin and junior post Kevin Clements had 10 each for a team that is awaiting the return of senior guard Tyree Ellis (broken wrist) and the WIAA clearance of two transfers.
“All I told him before the game was Michael Jordan played Game 6,” Washington coach Freddie Riley said. “He worried about being sick later. I guess Deontay must have thought about that and knew where I was going with that, how important he is to us.”
Milwaukee Vincent 88, Dominican 73: Balance was a key for the Vikings, who outscored the Knights by 14 in the second half. Senior guard Andrew Lewis (20 points) was the top scorer for at team with five players in double figures.
Cedarburg 64, Milwaukee Hamilton 52: John Diener hit 3 threepointers and had 20 points and Jordan Johnson (19 points) was 10 for 10 from the line for the Bulldogs.
Milwaukee Lutheran 60, Milwaukee King 38: K.J. Daniel, fresh off a 30point performance Friday night in a victory over Port Washington, had a team-high 21 points with 3 threes for the Red Knights (3-1).
Franklin 69, Milwaukee Career & Tech Ed. 60: Max Alba finished with 40 points for the Sabers, who improved 2-0 and outscored the Cougars by 11 in the second half.
St. Thomas More 77, Milwaukee Juneau/Reagan 61: Noah Glembin had 25 points for the Cavaliers, who improved to 2-0. They led by 19 points at the half.