Crane’s Carl Marshall hit four three-pointers in the third quarter alone, and they went a long way in helping the fifth-ranked Cougars defeat a gritty Lincoln Park team 72-60 Friday in the semifinals of the Public Schools tournament.
Marshall went 5-for-5 on three-pointers in the second half and finished with 21 points. His 12 points and Florentino Valencia’s seven in the third quarter gave Crane a spark it lacked in the first half.
“I wanted to get my team back into it and show leadership,” Marshall said.
The Cougars (8-0) will play Curie (10-4), which knocked out Julian 71-58 in the other semifinal, in Saturday’s championship at 2 p.m.
Crane went 1-of-11 from the field in the second quarter against Lincoln Park (9-2), going nearly six minutes without scoring, and the Cougars committed six turnovers. Lincoln Park outscored the Cougars 12-5 in the quarter and the game was tied 23-23 at the half.
Valencia was on the bench for several minutes in the first half with foul trouble.
“He had a lot of time to think about what he was going to do in the second half,” Crane coach Anthony Longstreet said.
Valencia finished with 18 points, including 16 in the second half. Lorenzo Thompson scored only six but pulled down 12 rebounds for Crane. Lincoln Park’s Jason Moore scored 14 and Royce Parran 13.
Curie advanced to the championship in its appearance in the tournament.
“It means a whole lot to our program to play in the final,” Curie coach Mike Oliver said. “There are such good teams in the tournament.”
No one has Curie’s momentum. The Condors have won 10 in a row and are hosting the tournament. They haven’t lost at home in two years.
“The way we shot free throws, you’d think we were playing somewhere else,” Oliver said, referring to his team’s struggles from the line against Julian (7-6).
The Condors went 18-of-28 on free throws in the fourth quarter and 24-of-43 for the game. But Julian’s turnovers proved more disastrous. The Jaguars had 12 in the second quarter and 25 for the game. Curie had 19.
Julian led 15-10 after one quarter but managed only two field goals in the second quarter and never recovered.
“We tried to wear down their guards,” Oliver said. “We did a good job of doing that.”
Curie limited Julian guards T.J. Gray and Brandon Ewing to seven points each. Edward Finner, a 6-5 post player, was the only Julian player in double figures with 17 points to go with 12 rebounds.
As usual, Curie relied on balance and had 10 players score. Eric Borg led with 18 points and Mario Brandon chipped in 10 with nine rebounds.
The tournament’s most spectacular highlight came in a consolation semifinal, when Stephon Hannah of Hyde Park (8-4) buried a 26-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to stun Hubbard 79-78.
Hannah finished with 27 points, and his team will play Von Steuben (6-6) at 10 a.m. Saturday for the consolation title. Othyus Jeffers scored 26 for Hubbard (7-5).
Von Steuben advanced with a 63-50 victory over Robeson (8-5), led by Angel Santiago’s 15 points.
