Marian Catholic sophomore Brandon Hurt said it was “painful” to sit on the bench with a pair of first-quarter fouls Tuesday.
In that time, T.F. South roared out to a 19-9 lead. So when Spartans coach Mike Taylor put Hurt back on the floor to start the second quarter, the 6-foot guard cranked up the pace.
“I had to get aggressive,” Hurt said. “I had two early fouls and I wanted to come in and make a difference.”
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Hurt helped turn the game into an up-tempo affair, finishing with 12 points and four assists as host Marian Catholic ran past T.F. South 71-59 on Day 2 of pool play at the Chicago Heights Classic.
Austin Richie had a team-high 13 points, and Chase Adams and Steven Ross added eight apiece. Seven players scored at least seven points for the Spartans (2-0).
“The strength of this team is everyone being able to contribute,” said Richie, who had a 10-point second quarter. “We’ve got guys that can come off the bench and play. It’s not just the starters. No one can do it by themselves.”
Marian Catholic (2-0) is now in the driver’s seat to reach the championship game, although the Spartans will first have to take care of business Wednesday against Homewood-Flossmoor (1-1).
Brandon Johnson, a Western Michigan recruit, paced T.F. South (1-1) with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots. Bron Hill added 11 points and nine rebounds but was plagued with foul trouble.
“They sped it up and we didn’t adjust,” T.F. South coach John O’Rourke said. “They started to hit shots, heat up a little bit in that second quarter, and once our lead evaporated, we got on our heels and they took advantage.”
Marian outscored the Rebels 30-8 in the second quarter. The Spartans went on a 14-0 run in that quarter, highlighted by Hurt finding Richie and TeeAaron Powell for 3-pointers.
“That’s one of the things that Brandon’s good at,” Richie said. “He pushes the tempo really well. He did a good job with that (Tuesday) and we need that.”
T.F. South dominated the glass in the first quarter, getting four putbacks in taking a 10-0 lead before Marian got going.
“We really can’t get off to slow starts like that,” Richie said. “I don’t think it was their length (that bothered us). I think it was wanting it — wanting to play defense, wanting to get rebounds.”
T.F. South trailed by as much as 20 after Ethan Kelly canned a three, but Johnson kept the score respectable with 13 points in the fourth.
“In those stretches when things aren’t going right, we’re going to look to him to be our go-to guy,” O’Rourke said. “He’s got to understand that and look for quality shots.”
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.