The Tigers won their fourth straight game and ninth of their last 10, improving to 17-5, by beating visiting Fox 68-57 on Feb. 19. The Warriors (9-12) fought back from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter and trailed by only two with 6:55 to play.
Then Festus sophomore guard Arhmad Branch took command. After being whistled for a five-second violation and briefly coming out of the game during the Fox rally, he unleashed his skills in the span of a minute to turn the game back in his team’s favor.
“He handled that situation really well,” Tiger head coach Jason Therrell said. “He came to the bench and I said, ‘Hey, take a couple minutes and get a breather,’ and he came back in and scored six straight points. It was a learning moment for him and he handled it well.”
Branch splintered the Fox defense with a pull-up jump shot and an old-fashioned 3-point play. He slashed to the rim from the high post and made a basket and free throw after Warrior senior Luke Pisoni picked up his fourth foul. Branch’s 3-point basket with 5:40 to play gave the Tigers a 58-50 lead.
When Branch throttled down in the fourth quarter, senior Collin Reando found his high gear with two baskets and a pair of free throws that pushed the Festus lead to 68-54.
“We got down a little early and fought our way back,” Fox head coach Mike Wilken said. “They made some big shots. They’re a good shooting team and we missed a couple. We played pretty well and were right there the whole game. We just didn’t finish.”
Festus tied for the Jefferson County Activities Association large-schools championship with De Soto after the Dragons beat Windsor at home on the same night Festus beat Fox. The Tigers and Dragons (13-10) both finished 7-1 in the conference and split their two head-to-head games.
De Soto hosts the Class 5 District 2 tournament starting Saturday. The Dragons were slated to host Farmington and Hillsboro to conclude the regular season, with Festus playing Potosi and Bayless at home, all after the Leader deadline.
North County (17-1) is the No. 1 seed in the district. The Tigers’ home game against the Raiders on Feb. 16 was snowed out. De Soto (No. 4 seed) and No. 5 Hillsboro (8-14) square off to open the tournament on Saturday. No. 2 seed Farmington (14-7) and Festus (No. 3) play in one of the semifinal games on March 2. The Knights dealt the Tigers an 82-54 defeat in January.
In that loss, Branch and junior guard Collin Weinhaus paced the Tigers with 15 points apiece. Weinhaus made four 3-pointers in that game and leads Festus with 52 this season. Like Branch, he scored another 15 points against Fox, all coming from downtown. Weinhaus and Warrior junior guard Brendan Moss traded treys to start the game and the two athletic teams were off and running. Moss also made five 3-point baskets and scored 15 points.
“My guys find me and I get hot,” Weinhaus said. “That’s all there is to it. As long as I’ve got space, I’m going to let it fly. We kept the pedal down and went right at them.”
Weinhaus talked about the turning point in the fourth.
“Arhmad got a little rattled, coach talked to him and he came back in and gave us good minutes,” he said. “Everybody was kind of rattled when they started coming back, but we used his energy and we picked up on that and started rolling.”
In a 65-59 JCAA large-schools win over Windsor in Imperial on Feb. 12, Weinhaus sank seven shots from behind the arc for a 21-point performance. Therrell said it’s not hard to figure out why Weinhaus is shooting from all around the perimeter with so much success.
“He really deserves that because he’s put in a ton of time,” Therrell said. “He’s literally taken thousands and thousands of shots to put himself in that position. The kids are starting to feed off that and have confidence in him. I’ve noticed that we’re looking for him in those spots. Before he was our fourth or fifth offensive option, and now at times he’s more than that.”
Pisoni avoided a fifth foul and finished with eight points and seven rebounds. He leads Fox in rebounding, averaging eight per game, and is one of three Warriors – besides Moss (12) and senior Myles Richardson (12.5) – to average double-digit scoring with 11.5 points per game. Richardson led the Warriors with 17 points against Festus.
Five times this year, Pisoni has pulled down 10 or more rebounds. He set the school record last season when he grabbed 28 against Affton.
“It’s not only the rebounds and points, he gets assists, steals,” Wilken said. “Just his presence inside. He does a good job with everything. He’s having a great senior year.”
Senior forward Austin Graf didn’t play basketball for Fox last year but was a big presence against the Tigers with seven points and four rebounds. Graf scored in the fourth to cut the Festus lead to 58-52, then had a blocked shot at the other end.
“He’s a great turnaround story,” Wilken said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to. He’s done a great job as a senior. It’s been great to have him on the team.”
The Warriors are the fourth seed in Class 6 District 2, behind Lindbergh (7-12), Oakville (10-11) and Mehlville (5-15) in that order. Fox faces the Flyers on Saturday in one semifinal. The Warriors were scheduled to wind up the regular season this week against Parkway North and at Lindbergh.
“We’ve won the last five of seven games and we lost tonight, but we played good basketball,” Wilken said.