MANCHESTER • The Eureka Wildcats received the higher district seed by virtue of a head-to-head victory earlier this season, but the Marquette Mustangs were the more complete team this time around.
A huge run that covered a large portion of the first and second quarters put Marquette in complete control of the game and it never looked back in a 50-34 win Monday in an opening-round game of the Class 5 District 3 boys basketball tournament at Parkway South.
"I was very proud and I thought it was one of our more consistent games," Mustangs coach Shane Matzen said. "I didn't think we were very flashy and I didn't think we got as much inside as we normally do. We had to move the ball and play a more balanced game than we had in the past."
With its fifth straight victory, fifth-seeded Marquette (16-10) advances to take on No. 1 seed Parkway South (20-6) in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal Wednesday.
"We know Wednesday night's gonna be pretty tough, but man we're still practicing tomorrow, so that's kind of fun," Matzen said. "They (the Patriots) are really good. If you've watched them this year, they've got all their cylinders firing. And the thing about them is they're strong and aggressive. If we don't step up and meet their aggressiveness, it'll be a tough night for us."
Fourth-seeded Eureka, which beat Marquette 49-39 on Jan. 31, couldn't get into any kind of a shooting rhythm all night and finished the season 11-14.
"Because of their length and their size and the way they structure their defense with so many people in the paint that are so big, if we don't make something from the perimeter, we can't stretch them," Wildcats coach Craig Kennedy said. "You're gonna have nights like that where you don't make anything. It's just a shame that it had to happen tonight."
Mizzou recruit Ryan Rosburg led a balanced Mustangs scoring attack with 11 points, while Mitch Cox scored 10, Dillon Jones had nine and Matt Hink and Alex Winter added eight apiece.
"I thought Matt Hink and Alex Winter did a nice job," Matzen said. "They both rebounded well, they both defended well. And I thought our guards -- until the end when we kind of threw it away a couple times -- met passes really well."
Said Rosburg: "We've finally started shooting the ball well lately. That was big because I didn't have my best offensive game. Give to credit to (Eureka's) Max Wegener. Great defense. I've never felt that locked down in a high school game in a long, long time."
Eureka scored the first bucket of the game on a 3-pointer by Wegener a little more than two minutes in and a Tyler Jordan free throw made it 4-0.
Then, the well ran dry.
Marquette scored the final nine points of the first quarter and first eight points of the second quarter to make it a 17-4 game with 3:22 to go before halftime.
The Mustangs bumped the lead up to its highest point yet, 24-7, before the Wildcats suddenly got hot and reeled off seven straight points. Winter's layup just before the buzzer stopped the run and gave Marquette a 26-14 advantage heading to the locker room.
Eureka scored six of the first eight points of the second half to cut it to 28-20, but Marquette scored nine of the final 11 to assume a 37-22 lead after three quarters.
"We got it back to eight a couple times, but you've got to give them some credit," Kennedy said. "Not everything that happened was because we did something poorly. A lot of the credit goes to them for executing."
The Mustangs opened their advantage to as big as 21 points in the fourth quarter and cruised to the victory to set up another battle with the Patriots. Marquette edged Parkway South in last year's district title game and the Patriots won the regular season matchup 13 days ago.
"I'm sure they're still a little bit (mad) because of last year's finals and we're a little bit angry about the last time we faced them, so I think it'll be a really good game," Rosburg said. "I've played ball with Mark Waller and Ryan McArthy since I was young and we're really good friends. It'll be a battle. I'm looking forward to it."
In the other first-round boys game Monday at Parkway South. ...
SUMMIT 50, PARKWAY WEST 48 • Blake Dryer's 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:44 remaining in regulation broke a 43-all tie and allowed the third-seeded Falcons to avoid the upset.
Nick Bamvakais scored 14 points and Dryer added 11 for Summit (18-8), which will take on No. 2 seed Lafayette (17-8) in a 5:30 p.m. semifinal Wednesday.
Sixth-seeded Parkway West (6-18), which took Summit to overtime just nine days ago, got a game-high 23 points from Van Klohmann and 10 points from Tyler Yess.
