"The Dirty Dozen" is Dead

On a Friday night back in 2001 (January 26 to be exact), Marquette and Lafayette squared off in a consolation championship game at the now-defunct Maryville University/Ameritime Classic.  In this contest, the Lancers at one point in the first half led by a commanding margin at 26-11.  A gutty Mustang effort which featured clutch buckets late by Craig Zumwinkel, a 25-point effort by career scoring leader Troy Slaten and a rebounding night for the ages (15 caroms) by Tom Fahrenhorst spurred MHS on to a 52-47 victory and a trophy....Fast forward five years and 333 days and twelve contests later between the two schools (nine of which were decided by single-digits and four by three or less) and those in attendance got to finally witness what happened tonight at Meramec Community College:  a Mustang win over Lafayette.  With a sizable crowd of Mustang alum in the stands ranging all the way back to the Class of '98 and Rob Niemeyer, Marquette finally vanquished their foes on Clayton Road by a score of 57-42.

The start was an ominous one for Marquette.  After having 12 days ago, against the same Lafayette team, deadlocked their opponents rebounding-wise at 29, the Mustang effort on the boards left something to be desired.  In the first two minutes of the game, Lafayette grabbed five offensive boards.  A Chad Haley trey a minute-and-a-half in gave his team a 3-2 margin which quickly disappeared.  The Lancers went up by as much as four before the Mustang shooting eyes woke up.  An old-fashioned three-point play by Andy Rosubrg was quickly followed up by another Haley three.  Will Carpenter was able to convert in traffic before Karlos Washington knocked down a jumper and by the time the horn sounded, the Mustangs, though having been dominated on the glass, trailed by only one at 14-13.

The second quarter was kicked off by a slick steal by Karlos Washington.  The loose ball was picked up by fellow senior Tom Ahlborn and the race was on.  With the two Mustang guards having three sizable Lancers hot on their tails, Tom was able to shovel the ball to Karlos who laid the ball up with heavy pressure to give Marquette a lead it would not relinquish.  After a travel violation (only the third turnover of the half for MHS), the Mustangs went to work.  Six of the last nine shots by the men in Navy and Kelly found their way through net.  Included in those was a 14-footer by senior Rick Skalski, a tough bank shot at an odd angle by junior guard D'Angelo Wood, another medium-range hoop by Rosburg and two driving/hanging in the air affairs by senior Will Carpenter.  After Rosburg and Ahlborn went 4/4 from the line, the Mustangs worked the ball down to the end of the quarter and found Washington alone at the head of the key.  Karlos calmly swished his attempt from 20-feet and the Mustangs ran to the locker room up 33-19.

The Mustang efforts on the offensive end didn't stop with the first half buzzer.  Will Carpenter opened the proceedings in the second half with another driving, hard-nosed bucket to extend the lead to 16.  Washington then made a nifty steal and took it the length of the floor for another lay-in.  The play of the game that made believers of a Mustang team thirsting for a win over their opponents occurred late in the third.  With Lafayette hanging in the ball game and having recently cut the lead to 12, a loose ball rolled toward the Marquette bench.  With two Lancers heading towards the sideline, junior Eric Phillips dove head-first into his bench and tipped the ball back to Washington.  Karlos got the ball moving and two passes later, Chad Haley buried his third three-pointer of the evening to up the lead and quell the LHS comeback hopes.  Phillips was a picture of what a player can do for his ballclub.  In addition to the aforementioned hustling play, Eric pulled down a team-high six boards off the bench.  In addition, Rick Skalski's third-quarter play where he spelled Andy Rosburg (who had three fouls at the 6:00 mark of the third) was key for his team.  The 6-5 senior was able to knock down a couple of jumpers when given the opportunity and played stellar defense against the taller Lancers. 

The fourth quarter came down to a ballhandling game.  Marquette hit 7/10 from the free throw line (including 6/6 from Ahlborn) to clinch the 17-point win and put some ghosts to rest.  With the win, the #11-seeded Mustangs take on #3-seed DeSmet tomorrow night (December 28) in the quarterfinals of Meramec's Holiday Classic at 7pm.

Leading Scorers:  Chad Haley-15, Tom Ahlborn-13, Karlos Washington-10, Will Carpenter-8.  Leading Rebounders:  Eric Phillips-6, Andy Rosburg-4.  Leading Assists:  Ahlborn-5, Washington-2, D'Angelo Wood-2.  HARD HAT AWARD WINNER:  Karlos Washington.

For complete game stats-click HERE

Posted by: marquettemustangs

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