Fiery Cardinals offense leads to Woodland Invite title win

For the fourth consecutive year, the Woodland Cardinals advanced to the championship game of the Woodland Invitational Tournament. In a rematch of last year’s championship game, the Cardinals avenged a loss with a 73-60 win to claim the WIT title for the first time since 2020.

Despite some woes down the stretch, Woodland used a high-powered offensive attack and a fourth-quarter explosion to power past a Greenville team that the Cardinals had struggled against last December.

Woodland came out firing, hitting many of its early shots, and built up a 20-9 lead by the end of the first, led by eight points from Lane Christopher Lee and another seven from Korbin Kinder.

Greenville started to find its pace a little bit more in the second quarter, but Woodland held on offensively and finished the first half with a 39-28 lead, holding onto the 11-point edge that it left the first quarter with.

As the third quarter progressed, however, Woodland saw its lead slowly diminish as Greenville began to pick up the pace on offense. Trey Porter’s and-1 in the final minute of the third reaffirmed the momentum that the Bears had started to build.

The third quarter ended with Woodland leading by just five at 54-49, but a Cardinal bucket followed by a Bears offensive foul started to move the momentum meter back in Woodland’s favor.

By the midpoint of the final frame, the Cardinals’ lead had swelled to 14, and they rode the wave to a big 73-60 win to finally reclaim their tournament crown.

Easton Evans scored an impressive 33 points, a game-high, in the loss for Greenville, scoring 13 of such in the second quarter.

Kinder rivaled this performance, however, with 25 points of his own to lead the Cardinals in scoring. The game-changers for Woodland, however, were teammates Lee (17), Reed Layton (12) and Brayden Hastings (11) who all made big scoring contributions for the hosts.

The Cardinals move to a perfect 4-0 on the young 2023-24 season, running the table in the WIT after opening the season with a high-flying 101-85 game against St. Pius X.

The team has built on its win total every year since 2020, most recently with a 21-7 season last year that ended in an 18-point loss to Saxony Lutheran in a district semifinal game.

While it's still early, the bar-setting phase of the Woodland basketball season is underway, and the Cardinals' hot start is surely a sign of things to come.

Oak Ridge's Brock Hobeck leaps for a layup during the Woodland Invitational Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 30, in Marble Hill, Mo. Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

__Third-Place Game__

Using a high-powered third quarter, Oak Ridge (2-1) got past Leopold (1-2) in the Woodland Invitational Tournament third-place game with a 74-61 victory on Friday night.

Ty Wilson’s 19 points led the Oak Ridge team in the win, while Brock Hobeck (16), Konnor Hobeck (15), Karson Ward (14) and Connor Hutteger (10) all chipped in double-digit points in the win. The Blue Jays made six three-point shots and went 16-of-25 from the free-throw line.

Braden Halter’s 24 points led all scorers in the loss for Leopold, followed by 14 points from Keegan Deck. Noland Beussink added 12 points from putting up four of the Wildcats' five three-point shots. The Wildcats made 8-of-11 from the free-throw line.

Oak Ridge next hosts Delta at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, while Leopold hosts Woodland at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

__Fifth-Place Game__

Perryville (1-3) rained down 10 three-pointers, but it wasn't enough, as Meadow Heights (3-1) used two 20-point quarters in the first half to surge past the Pirates and win 69-59 in the fifth-place game of the Woodland Invitational Tournament on Friday night.

Braeden Hays scored a game-high 29 points in the win for Meadow Heights, including a whopping 14 of which in the first quarter. Damion Hulbert added another 14 points for the Panthers.

Barrett Wheeler led the Pirates with 18 points. Jake Cissell scored 17 points on five three-point baskets. the duo combined to score 35 of the Pirates’ 59 points.

Meadow Heights next plays at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8 at Kelly in Benton, Missouri, while Perryville plays at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Valle Catholic in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.