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