by Staff Reporter

Marquette Catholic High School
boys’ basketball team struggled
to a 6-25 record last season with
a youthful lineup. Those younger
players with a year more experience
under their belts may
have finally turned the corner
after defeating Carlinville 69-44
and Staunton 59-53 to win the
Southwestern Class 2A Regional
Tournament.
Sophomore Derrik Starrett had
24 points and six rebounds, and
freshman Sam Scheiter added 16
points with nine assists to direct
Marquette to a 69-44 win over
Carlinville Feb. 24 in the Regional
semifinals at Piasa. MCHS jumped
to a 21-12 lead after a quarter and
held off a late rally by the Cavaliers
to advance to the title game.
The first two meetings between
Carlinville and Marquette were decided
in the third quarter, after the
Cavaliers had played the Explorers
even for a half. This time, the
top-seed established their game
early behind Starrett and Scheiter,
who scored 7 points each in the
opening quarter. MCHS extended
the lead to 34-20 at halftime by
outscoring Carlinville 13-8 in the
second quarter.
Eric Gross helped Carlinville
battle back in the third quarter as
the senior scored 8 points with a
pair of treys. The Cavaliers were
able to cut the lead to 40-30, but
senior Zac Dixon battled foul
trouble picking up two quick fouls
and went to the bench with four
fouls. Marquette closed the quarter
with a 7-2 run to expand their lead
to 47-32 after three quarters.
Carlinville head coach Mike Rigoni said Dixon was the one
player Carlinville could ill afford
to have out of the game against a
physical Marquette team. “Before
the game, coach Cooper and I were
talking about their post player
[Starrett] and how we’d like to get
him in foul trouble again, because
he got in a little foul trouble last
time we played,” Rigoni said.
“I said to coach Cooper that the
one thing we would have a difficult
time overcoming would be
if Zac Dixon gets in foul trouble.
Source: Macoupin County Enquirer, March 5,
2010