Marquette Makes Big Plays To Rally Past Gladstone

MARQUETTE---The Gladstone Braves got off to a strong start in Marquette Wednesday night, but the Redmen used strong defense and clutch shooting to rally for a 54-47 win. The victory was Marquette's 17th in a row after a season-opening loss.

Gladstone Coach Clayton Castor got the start that he wanted, with his team running and gunning to a 22-13 lead after the first quarter. But the Braves managed only 25 points the rest of the game as the Redmen showed why they have run the table this season.

"They are stifiling at times," Castor said of the Redman defense. "They did a great job of taking away our two best players. I thought Brad (Spindler) had a great game and fought through it, and I thought Reece (Castor) was aggressive in attacking the rim. He just couldn't quite get a call. I thought our role players did a nice job, too."

But in the end, Marquette's role players did a bit more, at the most clutch times. No Redman player scored more than eleven points as the Gladstone defense was also strong.

With the Redmen leading by just four points in the final minute of the fourth quarter, Gladstone's last three offensive possessions were two turnovers and a pair of missed free throws.

Marquette then clinched the game by making just enough free throws.

It continued a trend of the Redmen finding ways to pull out tight games. They beat both Escanaba and Gladstone in overtime during trips to Delta County earlier this season, and beat the Negaunee Miners in a pair of down-to-the-wire contests as well.

"This was a big game, and Marquette plays in a lot of them," Castor said. "I think that's something that we'll benefit from next year by having a better schedule."

Braves senior Hunter Botruff did a nice job defensively on Marquette freshman Joe Ostrowsky, who has been lighting it up from behind the three-point line all season.

In this game, Ostrowsky made just one triple and finished with five points.

But fellow freshman Luke Ogea stepped up for Marquette, scoring all eleven of his points in the first half as the Redmen battled back from nine points down to make it a 27-26 game at halftime.

Marquette took the lead early in the third quarter, and even though the Braves never did regain the lead, they stayed close enough to make it a war into the final minute of the contest.

"You've got to give Marquette a lot of credit," Coach Castor said. "I thought we had some players who played out-of-character, but we'll continue to get better. Games like this are perfect. We knew that the conference (championship) is out of reach. We've just got to play for districts now."

Spindler led all scorers with 21 points, going in to "beast mode" at times, attacking the basket for ten points in the first quarter and nine in the third quarter. Castor was held to well below his average with 12 points, but he had the longest shot of the night when he drained a three-pointer from 30 feet away to end the first quarter.

Gladstone's record fell to 13-5 on the season. The Braves host the Escanaba Eskymos Friday night for Senior Night. The game will be broadcast live on WGKL-FM (Kool 105.5), WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Brenda Crow and videos taken by GHS graduate Nate Bellville.