The Brother Martin Crusader basketball team (21-6) (8-1 district play) duked it out on their home court for an important district match up against the Rummel Raiders on February 3, 2017 at 7 p.m. The game was crucial for the Crusaders to retain their first place lead in the district. According to MaxPreps, St. Augustine (8-2) trails Brother Martin for the top seed in their Class 5A district by a single game. Prior to tip off, Brother Martin students and faculty tailgated on campus at Crusader Fest with food, games, inflatables, and more.
At the start of the game, both teams played sluggishly and seemed to lack energy. There were several careless turnovers by both teams. It was a very low scoring quarter. Most of the shots were made off free throws and layups. However, near the end of the first quarter, Brother Martin picked up the pace and went on a 6-0 run to a meager 12-7 lead at the end of the quarter. The second quarter play seemed nearly identical to the first quarter. In the second quarter, both Brother Martin and Rummel allowed turnovers, missed easy layups, and failed to knock down jumpers. Brother Martin managed to develop a six point lead going into the third quarter from their 24-18 lead at halftime, despite their blunders. Not a single three pointer was made in the first half.
Going into the second half, both teams seemed to pick up the pace early on. Both Brother Martin and Rummel played aggressively as they forced turnovers, attacked the basket, and made hustle plays. However, all the hustle did not affect the scoreboard as it was another low-scoring quarter. The score at the end of the third quarter was 37-33 with Brother Martin holding a slight lead. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Brother Martin managed to get some separation from Rummel with an impressive move by Tré Swilling to give Martin a nine point lead of 44-35 with 4:58 remaining. The game would stay close up until the end, but Rummel could not manage to start a run to give them a much needed surge.
Although the Crusaders uncharacteristically did not make a three point shot the entire game, they would end victoriously with a score of 54-43. The Crusaders were led by Tré Swilling with 15 points, followed by Vejon Wallis with 14 points.
The next game for the Crusaders is against St. Augustine, an all -important district game, on Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m.
Submitted by Jason Arena ’21 (News Writer- Crusader Correspondents)
