History evades Leopold boys basketball team in district final

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- By the time the members of the Leopold basketball team reluctantly left their locker room Wednesday night, more than 20 minutes had passed since the game's final buzzer.

There was no district title for the Wildcats, no school history, no more games to play.

But they still were greeted with cheers from more than 50 family members, friends and fans as they returned to the court as a team, most of them with tears in their eyes.

Leopold, the second seed, lost 46-39 to No. 4 seed South Iron in the Class 1 District 3 tournament championship game at Poplar Bluff High School.

The team finished with 20 wins for the third season in a row -- a first for Leopold -- but failed to claim the school's first district title in boys basketball.

Leopold senior Lance Seiler drives to the basket during Wednesday's Class 1 District 3 championship game in Poplar Bluff, Mo. (MIKE BUHLER ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian)

Leopold was the second state-ranked team to fall to the young Panthers, who defeated top-seed Summersville in the semifinals.

"I felt pretty good," Leopold senior John Bohnsack said about playing in the school's first district title game since 1993. "I was more nervous before the other game because we played [Zalma] twice and we had to play them again and had to beat them.

"This game here I felt like we were feeling pretty good before the game. We were all pumped up and everything. Things just weren't going our way."

South Iron forced Leopold's offense outside throughout the game by filling the lane with defenders.

"It made us shoot outside shots a lot," Leopold senior Lance Seiler said. "We didn't come out knocking them down and it followed through for the whole game. We were hitting inside -- everything inside was going, layups all that, but as you can see the score, it wasn't a high-scoring game because we weren't hitting our shots."

Leopold senior John Bohnsack shoots around the defense of South Iron's Austyn James during Wednesday's game in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Kyle Stroder hit Leopold's first 3-point attempt of the game to give the Wildcats a 7-2 lead early in the first quarter, but Leopold missed its next nine 3-pointers and shot 4 for 24 (16 percent) from behind the arc in the game.

"We haven't shot well on the road all year to be honest with you," Leopold coach Shawn Kinder said. "We really haven't, and when you have both games not going on at once -- your inside game and your outside game -- when you're struggling from outside, you've got to have another resort to go to and we didn't have that tonight."

Leopold shot 12 of 22 (55 percent) from the field inside the arc.

"We didn't execute very well on offense," Stroder said. "Sometimes we took quick shots and we didn't work the ball around."

The teams were tied 20-20 at halftime, but South Iron started the third quarter on a 9-2 run.

"When South Iron got up on us in the beginning of the third quarter, we had to pick up the pressure," Kinder said. "It leaves the backcourt open for a lot of opportunities to attack the basket 2-on-1, 3-on-2. [South Iron[']s Austin Wilfong] did a good job driving the ball to the basket and attacking and he got some easy baskets."

Wilfong, a freshman, scored nine points in what proved to a decisive third quarter.

Both teams counted heavily on underclassmen. Three sophomores and two freshmen, including Wilfong who finished with a game-high 18 points, scored for South Iron. Only one junior and one senior contributed for the Panthers.

A freshman and four sophomores scored for the Wildcats, who were led by Stroder's 14 points. Junior Gregg Davis and seniors Bohnsack and Seiler all started and scored for Leopold.

After trailing by three points entering the fourth quarter, Leopold tied the game 37-37 when sophomore Joe Elfrink made a 3-pointer with four minutes to go in the game.

Leopold forced a turnover -- one of 19 it forced in the game -- on South Iron's next possession, but after the Wildcats failed to score, Wilfong hit a wide open 3 in the corner to give South Iron the lead for good.

"We did force a lot of turnovers in spurts it seemed like, but we didn't convert on those turnovers I didn't think," Kinder said. "I felt like we came down and it didn't pay off on the other end."

Leopold finished the season 21-7.

"It will definitely motivate us," Stroder said about the loss. "We really wanted to win it for the seniors this year, but we're going to come back and try to get here next year."

South Iron 11 9 15 11 -- 46

Leopold 12 8 9 10 -- 39

SOUTH IRON (46) -- Larenzo Cornell 3, Angelo Hampton 10, Marcus Hampton 5, Jerod Jackson 2, Austyn James 4, Trevor Ruble 4, Austin Wilfong 18. FG 17, FT 8-11, F 9. (3-pointers: A. Hampton 2, Wilfong 2. Fouled out: none)

LEOPOLD (39) -- Gregg Davis 2, Kyle Stroder 14, Joe Elfrink 6, Cameron Davis 2, John Bohnsack 5, Lance Seiler 8, Brandon Jansen 2. FG 16, FT 3-6, F 15. (3-pointers: Stroder 2, Joe Elfrink 2. Fouled out: none)