View from the Corner Desk

Some Negaunee-Marquette thoughts

Negaunee beat Marquette by a point Friday night, as the No. 1 and No. 3 boys basketball teams (according to the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportcaster) battled for supremacy at the Marquette gym. The game lived up to, well there wasn't really any hype, but definitely expectation. Some thoughts on that game.

1) The refs had a tough job. These teams played each other pretty tough and physical. Of course, I've seen similar games this year and in the past, and those games seldom (if ever) had that many fouls called. So I guess you could say the refs called a pretty tight game. It was probably too tightly called, because there was absolutely no rhythm and it was a bit painful to watch. The offiicating kept some of the U.P.'s best players off the court with foul trouble for both teams. But come tournament time, maybe both teams will be glad they went through that sort of scrutiny. The coaches definitely know their benches can play in a tight contest.

And yes, the refs made some bad calls. Not nearly as many as the Marquette fans and student section thought, but they are a bit partisan of course. I'm not sure if it totally evened out throughout the game, but Marquette fans would be wrong to blame the officials for the loss. This was a game Negaunee most definitely won.

2) The key, to me anyway, was play of the teams down low. With foul trouble on both centers, it was up to other players to step up. Negaunee's inside game dominated. Marquette doesn't like to post the ball in the post much anyway -- I don't remember too many instances of them doing it Friday, either, with Erik Powers on the bench. They were content to slash and have Joe Simon drive. Meanwhile, Negaunee found a way to get the ball inside and just let two talented scorers do their thing down low. Nick Benaglio had some foul trouble, but came up big with his moves and rebounds. (8 boards on the offensive end!) I think we'll see him step up to the next level.

And Travis Swanson? Just an incredible game. He's just 6-1, 6-2, whatever, around there. Not the tallest guy on the court. But like he's been doing since coming up big in the playoffs his sophomore year, he just finds ways to score and finds his way to every loose basketball. (Pistons fans, I'm thinking a Jason Maxiell comparison.) I know Swanson's a good player, but even then, he stepped up and impressed me even more in the biggest regular season game of the year. With 23 points, 10 rebounds (8 of those on the offensive end) and most of the game spent on the court because he didn't foul often, I give Swanson a lot of credit toward the victory.

But back to the team thing: Marquette, a team used to being bigger than anyone they play, had just 12 total rebounds. That's amazing. Now there weren't a lot of attempts by the teams, so it was going to be a low number anyway. But Negaunee had 17 offensive rebounds. They scored at least 12 second chance points in the first half -- I didn't keep careful track so it may be more. But no less than 12. And that is what I call domination inside.

3) Marquette star Joe Simon? Incredible. Is he the best in the U.P.? I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better player. He shoots inside, outside. He bangs. He scored 33 points when everyone in the gym knew the ball was going to be in his hands.

4) Negaunee's Anthony Katona is quite an underrated player. But that's because all five starters on Negaunee are so fundamentally, quietly strong. If Marquette was going to win Friday, they needed Brian Carter to get started. He only had six points most of the night. That's a credit to Katona's defense. Like his team, he's not going to be flashy. He's just going to soundly beat you.

5) The environment for the game was great. Marquette's pep band is great. They're loud, they're skilled, their drummers are excellent.. and they sing! They contributed quite well to a good environment. But so did the fans on both sides, including Marquette's student section and their white-out. The communities filled the MSHS gym pretty close to as packed as a regional game. And both sides were well behaved. It was really a great environment.

6) Repercussions of the game? I didn't have the space in Saturday's paper to get into all the other stuff. But Swanson told me Marquette would be the best Class C team they faced in the U.P., so meeting them twice and playing two close games was great preparation for the upcoming playoffs. And Marquette, who has beaten several of its district opponents already, has got to benefit from playing one of the top teams -- any class -- north of mid-Michigan. And the atmosphere -- Negaunee coach Mike O'Donnell aptly called it tournamentlike -- just weeks before districts start should help both teams as they hit the road.

6B) And for the game's stars? I'd say Simon and Swanson helped assure themselves spots on the Class ABC Dream Team with their play. And my opinion is Benaglio deserves a spot among the U.P.'s best, too, his offense and defense are both so strong. I'm sure some others make the ABC First Team as well.

7) And maybe the best part of the game? The players on these two teams really are friendly. They lift together and hang out some, Swanson told me. They want to win for bragging rights with each other, but there's no ill will. When you add that to everything else, Friday's game really did epitomize the best of what high school sports is about.