C2 Sectional: Puxico routs St. Vincent in historic Battle of the Indians

The Class 2 Sectional matchup between St. Vincent and Puxico was not only the battle of the Indians but also a showdown between dueling teams of destiny.

St Vincent won its first district championship since 2005 and Puxico won their title for the first time since 2007.

St. Vincent had the home-court advantage but in the end, Puxico proved to be the tougher tribe and won 72-49 on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at St. Vincent High School in Perryville, Mo.

It was Puxico’s first win in the state tournament since 1959.

Landon Burchard led the Puxico charge with a game-high 22 points including three baskets from the three-point line.

“He always just steps up in the bigger games,” Puxico third-year head coach Bryant Fernetti said. “They tried to put some pressure on him and different things. They just have a hard time because he can handle the ball so well, but he can also shoot and drive so he’s difficult to guard. He's just done a good job for us all year.”

Three other players scored in double-digits for Puxico. Jayden Mitchell scored 11 points while Jett Hancock and Mason Parsley added 10 points each. That duo along with Burchard were instrumental in getting Puxico started in the first quarter with a 22-19 lead.

“We just have a lot of different guys that can score and step up,” Fernetti said. “We had guys come off the bench and hit shots. We had just a good all-around group effort and everyone did their job, so just kind of what we've been able to do all year.”

The key difference in the game came in the second quarter. Puxico continued its offensive pace with 19 points but held St. Vincent to only seven points to enter halftime with a 41-26.

“We tried getting up and pressing a little bit, but then it caused us to lose some of their shooters,” Fernetti said. “So we just went to man and we wanted to really focus on (Max Wheeler) and (Colden Prost) because those are their two guys that score quite a bit from the outside. I thought our guys did a good job of trying to limit those guys as the game went on. And then the second quarter we probably rebounded better than any other quarter. So when you do those things that helps.”

St. Vincent had opportunities to attack the basket and got the looks, but couldn’t find the basket for the later half of the second quarter.

“That was that drought we got into, one of our droughts,” St. Vincent head coach Bruce Valleroy said. “Our shot selection wasn't too bad. We just couldn't put the ball in the basket.”

Puxico outscored St. Vincent 31-23 throughout the second half and made 8-of-9 from the free throw line throughout the game.

St. Vincent was kept from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and made 7-of-11 overall from the charity stripe. Prost led his squad with 17 points followed by 12 from Max Wheeler.

Seniors Payton Strattman and Jacob Schremp each scored eight points in the final basketball game. Schremp ended his football and basketball career with an elusive district title for St. Vincent.

“He's going to be successful in his life and whatever he does, and he's just one of those guys, you just want to be around,” Valleroy said of Schremp. “This year, he almost had nine rebounds a game, scored probably about 14 points a game for us and he really was our only big guy inside. Overall he did a great job on the boards.”

St. Vincent’s season ends with a 17-11 record, its most wins since going 19-5 in 2021. Wheeler led the Indians with 16 points per game and will return as a junior next year with expectations of leading the team back to the state tournament.

Puxico (23-5) will host the quarterfinal round at Three Rivers CC against South Pemiscot at 1 p.m., on Saturday, March 2.