Hillsboro didn’t have an answer for St. Louis University High senior Matt Leritz in the first half of Saturday’s final game of the Jefferson County Activities Association Shootout at Jefferson College.
The Junior Billikens’ second-leading scorer rang up 21 points by halftime with a variety of shots, from 3-pointers to turnaround jumpers in the paint.
After jumping out to a 14-6 advantage after the first quarter, the Hawks trailed 30-28 at the break. Something needed to be done at halftime to quell Leritz.
“We tried to contain their ball screens and make it tougher on (Leritz),” Hillsboro head coach Dan Johnson said. “The worst part of our defense in the second quarter was our offense. We weren’t able to score and get set defensively. We slowed them down in the third quarter and got some stops.”
After the break, the Hawks put a double team on Leritz any time he touched the ball and outscored the Junior Bills 18-4 in the third. That was enough for Hillsboro to beat SLUH 59-51 as the Hawks remained undefeated after seven games.
The Junior Bills (3-3) had beaten Metro Catholic Conference rival CBC 65-63 on Friday and Hillsboro took advantage of SLUH’s sluggish play in the first quarter, when head coach Erwin Claggett admonished his players for “not being ready to play.”
Usually known more for his defense than shooting prowess, Hillsboro senior Isaiah Martin tied with junior Michael Brewer to lead the Hawks with 19 points. Brewer also grabbed 12 boards and senior Gaven Pinkley had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Martin downplayed the Shootout’s marquee matchup and said beating SLUH was just another win.
“We went out and did the same exact thing we always do, which is focus on defense and it’s just another game for us,” said Martin, the state javelin champion who has committed to participate in track and field at Purdue University. “We’ve got a lot of good things coming this season.”
Johnson mirrored Martin’s comments.
“It’s just another game for us,” said Johnson who guided the Hawks to a Class 4 district title last season. “We treat them all the same. Our guys are always ready to play, no matter who the opponent is. We hadn’t played a team with that kind of size or athleticism yet. I’m real proud of the way we competed and came back. The second quarter wasn’t very good, but we put a stop to it at halftime and played a good third quarter.”
Pinkley’s basket a minute into the third quarter gave Hillsboro a 31-30 lead. But SLUH’s leading scorer, Michaels Sanders, answered the next trip down the floor and the Junior Bills were briefly back in front.
It would be the last time.
Brewer sank a basket and 3-pointer on consecutive possessions as Hillsboro surged ahead to stay, at 36-32. Senior A.J. Hardin kissed a nice bank shot off of the glass for two points to cut Hillsboro’s lead to two, but after senior Sam Ratterman picked up his fourth foul with 2:49 left in the third, Martin and Brewer provided the rest of the points in the quarter for both teams and the Hawks’ lead swelled to 46-34 going into the fourth.
“Isaiah was awesome tonight,” Johnson said. “He’s awesome every night and tonight he was the open man, our other guys found him and he delivered.”
Leritz, who finished with a game-high 32 points, got hot again late in the fourth and SLUH surged to within four points of the Hawks. A basket by Leritz with 26 seconds left made it 56-51 Hawks, but Brewer hit a free throw and Pinkley scored the game’s last bucket.
Austin Fleming had the only two points off the bench for Hillsboro. Did that bother Johnson?
“It does not,” he said. “The bench guys are always ready and fired up. The open guy who gets the ball puts it in the basket.”
When the Hawks were having trouble with ball control in the second quarter, Johnson inserted rarely used sophomore Mark Moore.
“You might be seeing more of him,” Johnson said. “He’s good defensively and handles the ball well. And when things got shaky handling the ball, we threw him out there.”
Owls shoot way past Hornets
Crystal City and Windsor tipped off the Shootout Saturday morning, and the Owls beat the Hornets 63-41 in the first of six games at Jefferson College.
The Owls lost 52-41 to Mehlville the night before and head coach Todd Dutton said he could tell his players’ legs were a bit sluggish early against Crystal.
“The boys worked hard on defense and tried to play team basketball as much as possible,” Dutton said.
The Owls (3-6) broke a two-game losing streak with the win over the Hornets (3-6), who dropped their fourth straight game. Windsor led 30-19 at the half and opened the second half with juniors Connor Hartmann and Justin Van Etten and sophomore Ethan Worley making field goals to increase the advantage to 36-19.
Crystal City senior Brady DeGeare ended the Owls’ run with a pair of free throws. DeGeare scored all 10 of the Hornets’ points in the third quarter and finished with 16 points. Point guard Collin Wilkerson was steady pushing the ball for the Hornets and finished with 11 points.
“We tried to keep (DeGeare) away from the basket, but he’s a pretty good player and he’s got a nice spin move,” Dutton said. “He drew a lot of fouls.”
Windsor never let up and grew its lead in the fourth quarter with six points in less than a minute by Worley, who scored as the final buzzer sounded and had 14 points. Freshman Sonny Amabile scored five points for the Owls in the final 1:30.
“We’re not making shots and right now that’s our biggest problem,” Crystal City head coach Sean Breeze said. “We’re shooting a horrible percentage as a team and if we don’t make shots, it starts to affect the defensive end of the floor.”
Windsor ran past Fox 76-66 in last year’s Shootout, also an early morning contest. Breeze said the 9:30 a.m. start wasn’t why his team couldn’t shake out of its doldrums.
DeGeare faces constant double and triple teams, he said, and until players like Wilkerson can consistently put up points, that won’t change.
“Collin got to the free-throw line a lot today and we’re going to have more of that from him and others, too,” Breeze said. “I tell Brady to play the block and he’s double teamed and then I tell him to pop outside and he’s shooting fadeaway jumpers and that’s not his best place.”
DeGeare’s four free throws in the last nine seconds of the third hardly put a dent in the Owls’ lead. DeGeare and Wilkerson both made three free throws before the Owls scored again and Crystal City whittled the Windsor lead to 46-36 with 5:41 to play.
That’s as close as the Hornets would get as Worley and Amabile took charge offensively. Dutton said Amabile did a good job of handling the ball.
“I like the way they’re working and coming together as a team,” Dutton said. “We’re a young team and it’s going to take awhile. I like the effort they’re giving me in practice and games.”
Jefferson wins two nail-biters in 24 hours
Led by junior Easton Null’s 28 points, Jefferson pulled away from pesky De Soto 60-53 on Saturday in the second game of the Shootout.
The Blue Jays (4-4) won for the second time in less than 24 hours after beating Ste. Genevieve 56-55 at home on Friday with a last-second basket by sophomore Jon Weik and 23 points by Null.
Jason Dreyer took over as head coach for Nic Zenker on Tuesday before a 57-54 loss to Northwest. Dreyer has coached the Blue Jays the last three games. He was the school’s varsity girls basketball coach for three seasons before becoming athletic director.
“These guys are dealing with a lot of adversity right now,” Dreyer said. “We were down (to Ste. Genevieve) by 12 points and they just fought back and getting that win was huge for our momentum. We had that close win and came out the next morning and didn’t miss a beat.”
It’s unclear whether or not Zenker will return to coach the Blue Jays this season. On Monday, Clint Johnston, superintendent of the R-7 school district, said he couldn’t comment on human resources matters concerning school employees, or if Zenker had been disciplined by the school. Johnston said Zenker is still employed by the school district. Johnston said the board didn’t take any action in its closed meeting on Dec. 14.
De Soto senior Austin West matched Null for most of the game of shooters and also finished with 28 points.
Jefferson held a 29-21 lead at halftime, but senior Kody Suess and Austin West scored the first six points of the second half for the Dragons and the deficit was quickly cut to two points. Senior Dakota Jakoubek snapped the De Soto run with a basket, but West scored the next eight points to give De Soto a 33-31 lead with 4:44 left in the third.
“We knew it would be a hard-fought game,” Dreyer said. “We know all about West because he was at R-7 until he was a freshman, so I taught him in middle school and I’ve followed him since then. He made a lot of tough shots because I thought our defense did a pretty good job.”
Weik drained a 3-pointer and sophomore Levi Ebersoldt made a basket with an assist by Null and the Blue Jays were back on top 36-33. Senior Aaron Perren made it 36-35 with a field goal for the Dragons.
West sank a pair of free throws to put the Dragons back in the lead at 37-36. Both teams continued to trade the lead as the third quarter expired with a field goal by De Soto junior Clayton Snudden and two free throws by Null that gave the Blue Jays a 40-39 edge.
Weik and Null missed 3-point attempts to start the fourth, but Null slashed through the paint and scored to give Jefferson a 42-39 lead. Null’s trey with 5:13 left to play gave his team a 45-41 lead.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity the last week or so and after the tough loss on Tuesday to Northwest, we were kind of down,” Null said. “But we picked ourselves up and played a hard game (against Ste. Genevieve) and pulled out a win and did the same thing today.”
Another 3-pointer by West gave the Dragons a 46-45 lead with 4:08 to go, but seconds later Null answered from behind the arc.
The game was tied 48-48 with 2:37 left when Null was fouled taking a 3-point shot. He missed but made all three free throws and the Dragons never caught up.
The conference’s reigning small schools player of the year said it wasn’t his scoring touch that led to his team’s win.
“It was our defense,” Null said. “We sat down man-to-man. They set a lot of ball screens and we talked on those and got through them and ultimately we didn’t let (West) get good shots.”
Null said the Blue Jays are slowly getting used to playing for another coach.
“I didn’t know how my teammates and I would react but it’s gotten better,” he said. ‘We’re still playing hard. Without a coach it’s hard if you’re not a player-led team. We had to teach (Dreyer) the plays because if he doesn’t know them, it’s going to be chaotic.”
Four Tigers score in double figures
When it’s operating at peak performance, the Festus offense is a sight to behold. With senior Owen Horsley controlling the tempo and dishing out passes to senior Daniel Portell and junior Savez Thomas, the Tigers can score from about any distance or angle.
The Tiger offense was ferocious against Herculaneum in Saturday’s 72-38 victory, the largest margin of victory of the six games in the Shootout. It was the Blackcats’ (2-7) third loss in a row.
Horsley, who led the Tigers with 14 points, has a slightly different perspective about the offense’s root of success.
“It’s all about the defensive end,” said Horsley who also had six assists and is among the area leaders in that category. “We practice defense every day and tonight it paid off. We’re not the biggest team, so we take advantage of some teams behind the 3-point line.”
Thomas (12 points), Portell (11) and junior Jason Johnson (12) all scored in double figures for Festus, which won its second straight game and improved to 5-3. Johnson just returned to the lineup from a broken foot and adds even more scoring depth.
“We all knew he could shoot the ball and he showed that today,” Festus head coach Jason Therrell said.
The Tigers have quality wins over Park Hills Central and De Soto, but they were manhandled in the Gene Steighorst Tournament by Hillsboro and Francis Howell Central. They beat Grandview 60-44 last week, but the Eagles were without senior star Koby Klaus, who will likely miss the season with a knee injury.
“We were not satisfied with our last couple of efforts,” Therrell said. “We played a great game at Park Hills and since then we haven’t been able to get back to that level. Today we looked more like ourselves.”
Portell is having an all-conference type of season, leading the Tigers with 15.4 points per game and a 40.8 percent shot from 3-point range.
“Daniel has improved every year,” Therrell said. “He started as a sophomore and was a shooter, each year since he’s added something to his game. This year he’s defending and getting some rebounds. He had several assists today and he’s an all-around player.”
Festus is getting solid inside play from junior Kobe Branscomb and senior Brennan Pryor, who had nine points and four rebounds against Herky.
“They are two key players,” Therrell said. “Brennan was aggressive inside with his rebounds and his offense. Sometimes we can become one-dimensional and if we can get the other kids involved it helps us a lot.”
Lancers fall to Indians in OT
In a game that was razor-close, the outcome was shaped by the more experienced St. Vincent guards, Evan Clifton, Trevor Lukefahr and Matthew Rellergert.
St. Pius X sophomore guard Kayden Cook displayed excellent body control with the ball on several attempts to breach St. Vincent’s interior defense, but he’s young and will be prone to mistakes from time to time.
Cook’s varsity time has been limited but there’s plenty of potential.
“He hasn’t played a lot, just a little bit in the Valley Park Tournament,” St. Pius head coach Eric Lawrence said. “He made a mistake at the end, but I thought he played well tonight.”
Before the Lancers’ 56-53 overtime loss to the Indians, St. Pius (4-4) had the ball at midcourt with 5.2 seconds left in regulation. Cook was in charge of the inbound pass, which he threw toward midcourt to junior Jalen Thornton instead of finding a teammate breaking toward the goal. Thornton caught the ball cleanly but had to rush a shot that missed.
“I thought the difference at the end was St. Vincent’s senior guards and we have a couple of sophomore guards and when you’ve got those couple of years of extra varsity experience, it helps out a lot,” Lawrence said. “I think this was good for us; it allows us to mature a little bit.”
Despite the miss in regulation, the Lancers had a chance to quickly go up on the Indians by two possessions in overtime. Luke Klahs was fouled as he scored the first basket of OT, but he missed the free throw. Leading by two with 3:02 left, Thornton was fouled, but missed both free-throw attempts.
After Clifton gave the Indians a 52-51 lead with 2:47 left, Klahs missed an easy layup. Junior Isaac Ernst made a quick spin move and passed to sophomore Colby Hager on the block and Hager scored with 42 seconds left to make it a three-point St. Vincent lead. Thornton cut the lead to one with a basket with 15 seconds to go, but Rellegert put the game away with two free throws.
Sophomore Riley Naeger led the Lancers with 14 points, but he was held scoreless in overtime. Thornton finished with 13 points.
“Riley’s a phenomenal talent, but again, he’s just a sophomore so we’re trying to instil some aggressiveness in him,” said Lawrence, who will not coach the Lancers this week against Crystal City because of his commitment to the National Guard.
Eagles play on without Klaus
This was supposed to be the season of redemption for the Grandview boys basketball team.
The Eagles had a record of 3-21 last season as they waited for their best player, Koby Klaus, to heal from a torn ligament to his right knee that required surgery and kept him out for his junior year.
After beating Herculaneum on Dec. 1, the Eagles were 3-1 and Klaus looked just as good following the injury than he did his sophomore year when he captured everyone’s attention with his talent.
Now Klaus is out again after having suffered what’s been diagnosed as the same injury to the same knee in a game at Steelville on Dec. 8. Grandview played without Klaus on Saturday in the Shootout, but was no match for Perryville in a 60-40 loss, the team’s fourth in a row.
Klaus was dressed in uniform and went through the warmups with his team before the game against the Pirates. He said he’s seeking a second opinion on Monday.
“I made a cut and I planted my right foot and my knee didn’t stop; it just kept going,” he said of his injury. “Last time, I landed on somebody’s foot.”
Grandview head coach Chris Miller said there was nothing malicious about the play in Steelville.
“He caught the ball in the back court, he had somebody guarding him, he spun around to face up and when he did, (the knee) just popped,” Miller said.
Klaus was averaging 18 points per game. Miller said in his absence, seniors Anthony Dolde and Dru Stranz and junior Colton McAnally will have to lead the Eagles.
“We really can’t control these things,” Miller said. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Hopefully, I’m one of those people. The good Lord has a test for us, and I have to take care of these guys. They need leadership right now because it’s a tough time for our program again, but we’re going to battle and make some adjustments.”
McAnally led the Eagles with 14 points against Perryville.
“Colton is a quiet leader in the locker room and the kids look up to him,” Miller said. “Hopefully we can make some positive adjustments and go from there.”
As for Klaus, this was supposed to be the season his play would attract the attention of college recruiters. His latest injury has tempered those expectations, but Klaus he hopes college coaches would focus on how he played before the injury.
“The last time I couldn’t put any weight on it and when I did, my knee buckled and kept popping,” said Klaus, comparing the injuries. “This time I can do anything I want to.
“If I go in Monday and am told it’s a tear, I’m just going to try and get into a college.”