Junior guard Joseph Kramer has been described by coach Joe Piekarz as Marmion’s quiet man.
While that may be true, the softspoken 6-foot Kramer is happy letting his game talk for him. This season, his second on the varsity, it’s speaking volumes again for the Cadets.
“I just try to get my team motivated,” Kramer said. “I try to do my best. Hitting shots, obviously, gets us motivated. Then I feel like I’ve gotta get emotional and try to get my team excited, which better helps them.”
Kramer did his part Tuesday night, connecting on four straight 3-pointers in the first half and finishing with 14 points in a 72-44 victory over visiting Ottawa Marquette in Aurora.
Those 3-pointers by Kramer provided the early spark as Marmion (16-11) built a 37-22 halftime lead.
“We’re very lucky to have a lot of guys that can knock down outside shots,” Piekarz said. “Joey had the great first half, and then in the second half, other guys started knocking some down.”
Junior guards Ben Piekarz, the coach’s son, and Dave Malley each made four 3-pointers, including three apiece in the second half. Piekarz ended up with 16 points and Malley added 14.
“We have other guys who can knock them down, too,” said Joe Piekarz, who used 11 players with only two — 6-3 junior forward Colin McEniry and 6-2 junior forward Max Ulbrich — taller than 6-1.
“We have a bunch of guards. We just hope every night we have two or three that are on and then we try to ride with their shooting.”
Junior guards Griffin Dobberstein and Alec Novotney came through with 13 and 11 points, respectively, to lead Ottawa Marquette (19-7).
“They’re having a very good season,” Joe Piekarz said of the Crusaders. “I think they can do some damage in the (Class 1A) postseason, absolutely.”
The difference was in long-distance marksmanship by the Cadets, who made 48% (13 of 27) shots from 3-point range to Ottawa Marquette’s 33% (4 of 12).
The Crusaders did pull within 48-40 with 6:30 remaining, but Marmion closed it out with a 24-4 spurt that included six of those 3-pointers.
“There were a lot of hidden minutes there,” Joe Piekarz said. “We were trying to go deeper into our bench. We had five subs in there together several times and they did a nice job of playing hard so our starters were fresh going into that fourth quarter.”
Kramer, meanwhile, had a game-high seven rebounds as the Cadets posted a 37-24 advantage.
“Since we’re so deep, it helps us get the breaks in,” Kramer said. “It gets the starting five a little rest and gets them back in better motivated and ready to play better defense, better offense.”
The youngest of five children, Kramer is from Plano. Three older brothers played soccer and basketball at Marmion while sister Maria, a Rosary graduate, went on to play college basketball at Ave Maria in Michigan.
“I hope to play in college wherever I can,” said Kramer, who is giving up baseball this year to play AAU basketball for the first time. “I played travel baseball my whole life but got tired of it.
“I enjoy basketball a little more. I wasn’t having as much fun with baseball anymore and sports is all about fun.”
He attributes his strong 3-point shooting to practice.
“That’s been my key,” he said. “I always shoot before and after practice. It’s just been my thing.”
Joe Piekarz pointed out that Kramer’s game is more than perimeter shooting, however.
“He shoots it well and also gets to the rim well,” Piekarz said. “He was our sixth man and second leading scorer last year. Because he’s quiet, he kind of flies under the radar sometimes.
“As this season has gone on and in this upcoming offseason, his name is gonna be out there because he’s a fantastic player. He rebounds. He does it all for us.”
