Shane Matzen knows the value of a good road trip.

“I grew up in a more rural area in central Missouri and, every time you went on the road, it was a real road game,” the Marquette boys basketball coach said. “You got on a bus and were on it for a while and got to have conversations. Then, when you got the gym, everybody was against you. Around here, it’s not always like that.”

The Highway 40 closure notwithstanding, the trip from Chesterfield to Kirkwood is still not a real lengthy one, but it was enough for the Mustangs to get a feel for what it’s like to hit the road and they took advantage of it Friday night with a 58-43 Suburban West Conference win over Kirkwood.

“Tonight was one of maybe only two or three real road games that we’ll play all year. So, that was really neat how tough we were,” Matzen said. “I was just really proud of the toughness of our team because over at Meramec, we faced some adversity for various reasons and we kind of backed down from it.”

The Mustangs’ experience at the recent Meramec Holiday Festival was not necessarily a good one, as they went a quick two-and-done, but they rebounded nicely with road wins last week over Parkway North and Kirkwood.

“I hated the fact we had four days of practice because that meant we weren’t playing,” Matzen said. “But, maybe it was a good thing because we got to kind of regroup and touch on some things that needed some work.”

The win improved Marquette to 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the Sub West. Kirkwood, which won the consolation title at Meramec, had its four-game winning streak snapped to fall to 6-6 overall and 1-2 in the Sub West.

After leading 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, the Pioneers never seemed to get into much of a rhythm against the visitors.

“Honestly, I would give that credit to Marquette,” Kirkwood coach Bill Gunn said. “I felt like they were just more physical than us. It kept us from doing what we wanted to do offensively, it kept us from getting good looks inside and it kept us from knocking down shots.”

Senior guard Chad Haley was a thorn in the Pioneers’ side, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the second half. Senior forward Andy Rosburg tied Haley for team-high honors with 14 points as well and also pulled down seven rebounds.

“I felt like offensively, we really tried to take things away from them,” Gunn said. “Haley, for example, we tried to get physical with him and he still ripped through and got to the basket. I just thought the total picture for us was they won the battle because they were more physical than us and they won the basketball game.”

A layup by Haley inside the first minute of the second quarter tied the game at 10 and put a stop to an 8-0 Kirkwood run. Neither team would lead by more than two points until a 4-0 Marquette spurt in the final two minutes of the first half gave them a 21-17 lead heading into the locker room.

“I didn’t think we played our best basketball and it was a four-point game at half,” Gunn said. “I would’ve liked to have seen us finish it off, but tonight they were the better team.”

The Mustangs had a strong second half, especially in the third quarter when they outscored the Pioneers 22-13 to enjoy a 43-30 lead with eight minutes to play.

Marquette also held a 15-13 advantage in the final quarter. That was in stark contrast to the last time these two teams played on Dec. 8 in the third place game of the National City-Webster Classic.
In that game, the Pioneers outscored the Mustangs 32-17 in the fourth quarter, but Marquette had built up a big enough lead to survive 62-59.

“It was a different game,” Matzen said in comparing the two contests. “Really, that last game, we were up big most of the game and then that was just bizarre. I had to go into the locker room and tell our guys we should be happy we beat a good team because we were really down. Tonight, was just nip and tuck and then we got a chance to pull away when they missed some shots at the end.”

Kirkwood’s comeback that early December day was fueled by a barrage of 3-pointers. The Pioneers made 12 of them, including six by Britton Schlotz. The junior guard had just one trey on Friday (his only field goal of the game) and finished with eight points.

“You just have to be very aware of him,” Matzen said. “The hard thing about his team is they’ve got some kids that can really drive to basket and, if Schlotz is on that side that he drives, you can’t give any support off that kid that is driving.”

Senior guard Louis Erby led the way for Kirkwood with 15 points, while senior forward Max Artis had 11.

“The big thing to me was I thought they took us out of what we wanted to do as far as execution,” Gunn said. “Also, I know they won the war on the boards. I thought they killed us. We would sustain an effort and defend for 20 or 30 or 40 seconds and then give up an easy rebound and putback.”

And that is something Matzen and his team can hang their hats on.

“I just thought we were very, very solid. We had a couple breakdowns, but not very many,” he said. “They won four in a row and they’ve been playing so hard. For us to come and guard them and play as hard as them, that makes me really proud of our team.”

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Kirkwood will get back at it at 7 p.m. Tuesday with a non-conference home game against Beaumont. The Pioneers then get back into league action Saturday with a 6 p.m. home game against Northwest.
Meanwhile, Marquette will once again play in the Washington Tournament, which runs Monday through Saturday.

The Mustangs are seeded fifth and will take on fourth-seeded Washington in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

“We went to the consolation side last year and beat Washington in that last game. I’m sure they’ll be ready for us,” Matzen said. “Again, another road game.”

A win would propel the Mustangs to a semifinal game at 6 p.m. Friday against the Lafayette/Union winner. A loss would send them to the consolation round, where their next game would be at 6 p.m. Thursday against the Lafayette/Union loser.

Lafayette is the top seed at the tourney followed by Jennings and Borgia. After Washington and Marquette, the final three seeds are Westminster, St. Charles and Union.

The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Washington High.