Never mind the first day of school. The first day of summer basketball practices was challenging enough for Marquette freshman Josiah Mays.
The 5-foot-9 guard was one of the many new faces for the Blazers after their run to the Class 1A semistate finals last season.
“It was a little awkward because we didn’t know each other,” Mays said. “But then we started talking to each other and made sure we got close because we’re still young and we plan on staying here for the next few years.”
Mays has reasons to be optimistic. He and the other underclassmen have overcome that early discomfort to lead Marquette (12-15) into the Class 1A Michigan City Semistate semifinals against Liberty Christian (17-9) on Saturday. Elkhart Christian (17-9) will play Fort Wayne Canterbury (16-9) in the other semifinal.
Mays is averaging 11.0 points, which ranks second on a team that doesn’t have a senior among its top six scoring leaders. Another key player for the Blazers is 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Cole Dobre, who is averaging 10.4 points and team highs of 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. Like Mays, Dobre recalls growing pains over the summer.
“We didn’t know each other’s playing styles,” Dobre said. “You can’t really trust anyone with the ball because you don’t know the personnel. But once everybody knew what each person could do on the court, we trusted each other, and it translated into games.”
Marquette coach Ray Tarnow said Dobre and Mays have a lot to do with that success.
“Cole’s been really good for us inside and exceptional on the outside too,” Tarnow said. “Josiah is super athletic and exceptional with the ball in his hands, but now he’s evolved to playing off of the ball.”
Dobre and Mays have become even more important since junior guard JJ Welch, Marquette’s leading scorer, suffered a season-ending injury during a loss to Logansport on Dec. 27. The Blazers lost 12 of 16 games without Welch, finishing the regular season with a 69-45 defeat against 21st Century that prompted a discussion. They were 8-15.
“We talked in that locker room, saying that we hated that feeling and that we are all mad, and we were saying that we can’t lose like this anymore,” Mays said. “We wanted to make a run. We wanted to have the same feeling that the team last year had.”
Mays and Dobre have led the way, pacing Marquette in scoring in three of its four postseason victories. The exception was the Blazers’ 57-32 win against DeMotte Christian in the regional championship game last week, when sophomore guard Aleks Pecoski scored a team-high 17 points.
Tarnow gives credit for the postseason success to the players, saying their camaraderie helped turn things around.
“A lot of teams talk about being a family — we had it on our shirts last year — but I think we really mean it, and they’ve bought into that,” Tarnow said. “We’re going to take care of each other to get through the good and the bad. Right now, things are pretty good. But there was a lot of bad earlier.”
Amid these good times for the Blazers, Dobre said there has been a noticeable increase in the players’ intensity during practices.
“For the past two weeks, we just haven’t wanted our season to end,” he said. “So we had to fight harder to get through these games.”
This lineup will have opportunities for more postseason runs in the future, but Mays said he and his teammates won’t take this one for granted.
“I don’t want us to get too happy about regionals,” he said. “I don’t want my team to get comfortable because we’re not done yet.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.
