12/5/2008
Close Call
Reprinted with permission from The News Dispatch

Adam Parkhouse
The News-Dispatch

WESTVILLE - Thursday's game between Marquette and Westville had everything one might look for in an early-season contest.

The game was physical, featured several clutch baskets and rebounds and came down to the last shot. Both coaches agreed it was a shame someone had to lose, but Marquette's Jason Hawkins was just happy it wasn't his Blazers.

Marquette nearly blew a 16-point lead but held on for a 53-51 victory as a last-ditch effort from Westville to force overtime in the closing seconds was unsuccessful.

"I've been praying a lot more lately, so I've got to give Him credit," Hawkins said, pointing toward the sky. "That was a great game in its intensity. It was Indiana high school basketball where both teams were intense and nobody wanted to lose."

Early on, it appeared Marquette (1-1) wouldn't have to worry much losing, busting out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter on the strength of an aggressive defense and hot shooting from the field.

The Blazers led 32-19 at halftime and appeared to be on cruise control.

"I was real disappointed at the beginning because we played so slow and ... apathetic," Westville coach Bill Berger said. "But I'm happy with how everybody responded."

The Blackhawks (1-2) began to respond in the third quarter, at the end of which there were plenty of fireworks.

Westville's Reilly Wilson turned offensive rebounds into layups on two consecutive possessions, whittling Marquette's lead down to 36-30. The Blazers scored back-to-back buckets to extend the lead back out to 10 when a game-changing altercation took place.

With 37.4 seconds left in the quarter, Marquette' J.J. Lutz scored on a layup to push the lead to 40-30. After the basket, he became entangled with Wilson, crashing to the floor. The pair struggled to get up and eventually got rough with each other, causing school security, as well as Marquette's bench and coaches, to come in and assist in breaking the two up.

Once the smoke cleared, Lutz (15 points, six rebounds) and Wilson (eight points, seven rebounds) were both ejected and Marquette was assessed a technical foul, resulting in two Ben Reed free throws that made it 40-32.

"That was the momentum shift of the game," Hawkins said. "It just gave them all the momentum and we lost one of our better players in a close game."

Because of the ejections, both Lutz and Wilson will serve an automatic one-game suspension.

The Blazers took a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter on back-to-back field goals from Joey Przybylinski. That margin held until the closing two minutes, when the Blackhawks made their run.

Jason Heckman converted an offensive rebound into two points to make the score 53-48 with 1:29 left. Just seconds later, Heckman converted another offensive rebound into a trip to the free throw line, converting 1-of-2 to make it 53-49.

Marquette failed to convert on consecutive one-and-bonus situations, leaving the door open for Westville with 44.2 seconds left. Heckman got yet another offensive rebound on Westville's next trip and was fouled. He made both free throws to make the score 53-51.

Marquette's Pat Dabkowski was immediately fouled, but missed both of his free throws and Reed got his game-high 11th rebound of the game.

On the next trip, Reed missed a 3-pointer, Doug Warnke got the rebound and Andy Shores missed, Reed got another rebound and missed before Dabkowski collected a rebound and fell down, resulting in a turnover.

With nine seconds left, Shores missed a trey but Heckman collected another offensive rebound. However, his final attempt was too strong off the glass as the buzzer sounded, giving Marquette the win in hair-raising fashion.

"I think we'll have to work on our defensive rebounding," Hawkins said. "You hate for any team to lose that game."

Berger agreed, saying, "It was a great game and it's a shame someone had to lose. I'm proud of the way we battled. It was a tough game."

Notes: Westville won the junior varsity game 49-20. ... Marquette had 10 more turnovers (29-19) and collected 13 fewer rebounds (38-25), but somehow still came out on top. ... In large part because of 15 second-half turnovers, Marquette took just 14 shots in the final two quarters, making eight of them. ... The Blazers shot 53.8 percent from the floor, compared to 24.6 percent for Westville.

Contact Sports Editor Adam Parkhouse at aparkhouse@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 461.