Marmion puts press on Willowbrook
Marmion broke the game open early using its athleticism and aggressive play to put Willowbrook on its heels to win 67-41 on Saturday in Villa Park.
Michael Murphy had a game-high 16 points for the Cadets while Kyle Rushing had 11 points for the Warriors.
“We lost in every phase of the game tonight,” said Warriors coach Chris Perkins. “(The Cadets) were first to everything, first to the rebound, first to attack and first to commit us to force turnovers. They got the ball, they pushed it down and converted it on the other end. We got schooled in every aspect of the game.”
The Warriors (1-7) never got started as they dug a deep hole, falling behind 36-12 in the first half. Despite being winless in its first six games of the season, the Cadets jumped to a quick lead and never looked back. The hot-shooting Murphy scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers, and Tyler Maryanski added 7 points to jump start the Cadets in the first half.
“We worked hard this week in practice all week,” said Cadets coach Ryan Paradise. “I think our energy and our defensive commitment in the first half is what gave us that lead. We got a lot of defensive rebounds and crashed the offensive glass for the first time this season and gave their best player, (Chris) Poole, a rough first half. Credit our hard work and our concentration for getting that lead in the first half.”
Perkins told his team at the half to take it one possession at a time and try to chip away at the Cadets’ lead. The Warriors responded by playing the Cadets almost even scoring 29 points to the Cadets’ 31 in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers by Jake Bruns and Tyler Zunkel. But the Warriors couldn’t overcome the poor start.
“They were aggressive and we were on our heels the whole night,” Perkins said.
Poole had an off night but is confident his team will bounce back.
“We tried coming out hard in the first half,” Poole said. “We had to push the ball hard and we couldn’t get out of it. I have faith in my team. We are going into the Christmas tournament and will just put this behind us. We have a whole week of practice, and I think we can pull (the season) out.”
Maryanski added 11 points for the Cadets (1-6, 0-1).