Peters, Marmion drop Fenton
Stepping up when his team needs an offensive shot in the arm is nothing new for Mark Peters. He's delivered for Marmion Academy all season.
Marmion found itself trailing 24-17 midway through the third quarter of its regular-season finale against Fenton on Thursday night. But Peters took over from that point.
Peters scored all 11 of the Cadets' third-quarter points - and 15 of his game-high 19 in the second half - as Marmion edged the Bison 41-35.
"Coach (Rashon Burno) just told me to step up," said Peters, who also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. "We were moving the ball pretty well, but we were holding the ball a lot, too, and we needed to drive and kick it (out)."
Peters' two free throws with 2:10 left in the third quarter capped a string of 8 straight points by the 6-foot-6 senior and put the Cadets ahead for the first time since early in the contest, 25-24.
Zachary Piotrowski tied it for Fenton 25-25 with a free throw, but a Bison turnover with 2.2 seconds left gave the Cadets one more look at the basket before the end of the quarter. Peters got the ball and banked it in from half-court to give Marmion a 28-25 advantage.
"I thought we played good defense for the most part (the entire game)," said Fenton coach Dennis Cromer. "(But) we turned the ball over give them two seconds to come down the floor. And the second part of that was there was no one around him just to get the hand up and make it a little more difficult."
The Bison (9-17) pulled to within 1 point of Marmion four times during the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Bison they missed a free throw that could have tied the game at 36.
Following that miss, Greg Askwith nailed a 3 to make it 39-35. Tyler Hlavac's two free throws with 38.9 seconds remaining sealed the win.
"This felt like the last game of the season," Burno said. "(Our) guys were a little bit mentally tired so this was a good victory on the road. I tell my kids that anytime you go on the road (and win), that's kudos."
The Cadets (17-9) go into their regional opener at host Aurora Central Catholic next Wednesday with some momentum, having won eight of their last 10 contests. But Burno knows it's not going to be an easy task playing the Chargers on their home court.
"It's going to be a competitive game," Burno said. "We're playing fairly good. We're not clicking on all cylinders. Thank God we've got four days to practice to get ready for ACC. We won eight of our last 10, but I think we can always play better ball. I think we can pass the ball a little better; I think we can rebound a little better."
Meanwhile, the Bison face CICS/Northtown in their regional opener at St. Viator Monday. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
With a victory Fenton would then square off against Ridgewood on Wednesday. The two teams split their season series, with Ridgewood handing Fenton a tough 51-50 loss on a buzzer-beater Jan. 22.
"We think we're fairly evenly matched with them," Cromer said, "and we'd like another shot at them. But we'll have to play better on offense."
The Bison shot just 33 percent from the field Thursday night.
"A big part of our season has been our struggles to put the ball in the hoop," Cromer said.