The incredible turnaround the St. Pius X boys basketball team experienced in the last month came to an end in the Class 3 District 3 championship game against top-seeded Valley Park.
Paced by 33 points from Tim Coleman, 26 points from Michael Collins and 18 points from Myles St. Clair, the Hawks improved to 24-4 and pasted the sixth-seeded Lancers 88-55 at Jefferson High on Feb. 28. Valley Park play Miller Career Academy (15-12) in the sectionals tonight.
Just getting to the district final seemed an absurd idea for St. Pius a month ago when the Lancers were 0-12 and under the spell of a 28-game losing streak dating back to 2024. In January, Frank Ray replaced Matthew Smith as the head coach of the St. Pius boys. The month before, Ray was presiding over the Lancers as the head coach of the football team that played in the Class 2 Show-Me Bowl in St. Joseph.
Despite never having coached basketball at the high school level before, Ray immediately made an impact on a team that included his son, Harrison, a junior. Frank said his first message to the players seemed to surprise them.
“I told them from Day 1, my goal was to win a district championship,” he said. “I got some smiles on that one. They hadn’t won a game yet.”
One of the first wins under Ray was 46-40 against Saxony Lutheran from Jackson on Jan. 23. Their last came against perhaps their biggest rival in the county, Jefferson R-7 in the district semifinals.
After beating Hancock (3, 12-14) 63-54 in the first round, Harrison Ray scored a career-high 35 points in a 65-59 victory over the Blue Jays (2, 17-10), who had won the previous two District 3 crowns. In a 68-53 win against Veritas Christian Academy on Feb. 16, Ray sank seven of 10 3-point baskets.
In the district final, Ray scored 14 points and junior Brody Ervin netted a team-high 16 points. There were times when the Lancers had three freshmen on the floor against the Hawks. St. Pius didn’t have any seniors on the roster by season’s end.
“Valley Park’s good, fast, athletic,” Frank said. “They came in 24-3 with five seniors and they hit a couple 3s off glass and it was one of those nights. They turned the tempo up and kept us from getting into anything. Everything was pushed, and we’re usually good with that. We ran with them in the second quarter, and it snowballed on us in the third and fourth.”
Cooper Frisk, Colton Broadwater, Talon Watson and Blayne Wilson provide Jefferson four of the best basketball players in the Jefferson County Activities Association.
“The kids were excited at the beginning (of the game against the Blue Jays) and embraced the underdog role of not having pressure on them,” Frank said. “We put the pressure on them. They were the two-time defending district champs, and it was up to them to play that way. Defensively, we were flying to the ball. Whether it was a call or momentum shift, the kids stuck together very well.”
Frank said he won’t be returning for a second season as head coach, but he learned a lot in the past two months.
“I learned I’m a better football coach,” he said. “It’s the subbing in basketball that’s hard. The reasons, the way, how fast you have to sub. That’s what I learned the most. The way you spend timeouts is unique. Sometimes you do to save a possession or give them a breather. I pour a lot into football. I’m not a guy that can coach football half the year.”
Ray held a meeting with football players on Sunday. They start spring practice at the end of the month.
In another matchup of former JCAA rivals, the St. Pius girls took the No. 3 seed into the Class 4 District 2 tournament and beat Herculaneum (6, 8-17) 91-24 in Park Hills on Monday. The Lancers (14-11) entered the tournament having lost four of five games. They’re led by senior Brooke Blankenship, who’s among the leaders in scoring in the St. Louis area with 19.6 points per game, and has signed to play at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.
The Blackcats started the season 0-8 and were 12 games under .500 at the end of January. But they’ve played much better since then, winning four of five games before districts.