Meadow Heights wins opener in Woodland Tournament

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- An extra day off without any basketball may have been just what the Meadow Heights Panthers needed.

The Panthers were coming off a long weekend of traveling after going 2-0 in the Current River Shootout, and when icy roads and school closings delayed the start of the Woodland Tournament a day earlier, Meadow Heights second-year coach Mark Verticchio said his team was happy for the extra rest.

Meadow Heights got off to a slow start and trailed by five at halftime, but the Panthers came back and scored 31 second-half points to defeat Leopold 52-43 in the first round Tuesday at Woodland High School

"I think it helped us because we had played Friday, Saturday and practiced Sunday," Verticchio said. "Normally I wouldn't like it, but the fact that we were so tired. It might of hurt us at first being that we weren't so sharp, but overall I think it helped us because we were so tired. They're just kids, they get tired."

The Panthers allowed the Wildcats to score nine of their 26 first-half points on the fastbreak. The message from Verticchio to his players at halftime was simple.

"We told them, 'Hey, we're almost in shock,'" Verticcho said. "Because our three previous teams we'd played weren't able to handle our press like these guys were. And I said, 'It doesn't matter. You still got to go out and run the press, just because they break it doesn't mean it isn't working. Just as long as they don't beat it and shoot layups.'

"I think we relaxed a bit and got a few steals, but for these guys to beat them is big because we haven't beat Leopold in a long time just like we haven't been 4-0 in a long time."

Meadow Heights went on a 16-4 run in the third quarter. Meadow Heights senior Justin McGuire and sophomore Jacob Hunt accounted for the Panthers' first eight points of the quarter and each added a 3-pointer with under two minutes remaining in the quarter.

Leopold first-year coach Corey Brownsberger said the Wildcats (0-1) handled the press with ease early on but got tired and stopped taking good shots.

"We were the first team around here that I've really seen that could handle that press to the best of their ability so far," Brownsberger said. "And really we just needed to keep doing what we were doing. We were getting good shots, they just weren't falling. And this was our first game, and as the season goes on those shots are going to fall for us. At times we got away from that and sped ourselves up, but when we were patient, I thought we played a really good ball game tonight."

The teams traded points for most of the first quarter, with Leopold hanging to a 9-8 lead, thanks to a lay up from Leopold junior John Gray with 59 seconds remaining.

In the second quarter, Leopold scored 17 points on 10 shots. Blake Eeftink hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the quarter to push Leopold's lead to 17-13.

Meadow Heights' junior Jacob Douglas answered with a 3-pointer to pull within one, but Cord Cooper added a short-range jump shot and Zach Elfrink and Austin Bucher each scored to put Leopold up 26-21 at the half.

Brownsberger said turnovers and the inability to adjust to the press ultimately led to the demise of the Wildcats.

"I told the guys,'If we turn the ball over 15 times or less, we're going to be in this game and have a real good shot to win it.' That wasn't the case," Brownsberger said. "When we were patient, like I said, we got good shots," Brownsberger said. "The times that we got into trouble were when we caught the ball in the corner and just tried to turn and throw it, didn't ball fake, and when you ball fake, I think you're going to get better shots. When we got away from that, yeah it hurt us."

The Wildcats turned the ball over 23 times and scored just 17 points in the second half.

Bucher led the Wildcats with 14 points followed by Elfrink and Cooper, who added 10 points each.

Meadow Heights was led by Douglas and McGuire, who each had 14 points.

The Panthers are off to their best start since Verticchio took over in 2012. Verticchio said it comes as a little bit of a surprise with such a young team.

"I told some of my kids at halftime, 'You're playing against a lot of kids that are two and in some cases three years older than you.' It's a good team and the future is good. We're glad to be playing good right now."

Meadow Heights advances to a semifinal against Woodland at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, while Leopold will play Delta in consolation play at 7:30 p.m.

Scott City 67, Oak Ridge 35

Scott City's Jordan Kluesner scored a game-high 15 points to help lead the second-seeded Rams to victory over the seventh-seeded Blue Jays in the opening round of the Woodland Invitational Tournament on Tuesday.

Trent Pobst netted 13 points for Scott City (1-0) while Brock Uelsmann and Braden Cox chipped in 10 points apiece for the Rams.

Clay Maintz posted 12 points to pace the Blue Jays (0-1).

Top-seeded Woodland crushed eighth-seeded Delta (0-2) 114-21 in Tuesday's earlier quarterfinal. Zach Beel scored 21 points to lead the Cardinals, while Cole Schlief added 18 points and Garret Reynolds had 17 points for Woodland (1-0).

Oak Ridge 11 8 8 8 -- 35

Scott City 17 10 21 19 -- 67

OAK RIDGE (35) -- Steven Masterson 2, Nathan Bolin 8, Jordan Gilliland 2, Jacob Seabaugh 5, Joe Grieme 6, Clay Maintz 12. FG 13, FT 8-12, F 8. (3-pointers: Seabaugh 1. Fouled out: None.)

SCOTT CITY (67) -- Dylan Keller 9, Trent Pobst 13, Austin Spriggs 2, Nick Bickings 2, Isiah Berry 4, Jordan Kluesner 15, Brock Uelsmann 10, Braden Cox 10. FG 30, FT 6-10, F 18. (3-pointers: Keller 1. Fouled out: None.)

Meadow Hts. 8 13 16 15 -- 52

Leopold 9 17 4 13 -- 43

Meadow Heights (52) -- Jacob Douglas 14, Justin McGuire 14, Jacob Hunt 9, Spencer Bragg 8, Tyler Cook 4, Lane Baremore 3. FG 21, FT 3-4, F 15. (3-pointers: Douglas 2, McGuire 2, Bragg 1, Baremore 1, Hunt 1. Fouled out: None)

Leopold (43) -- Austin Bucher 14, Zach Elfrink 10, Cord Cooper 10, Blake Eeftink 6, Triston Graham 3. FG 30, FT 4-8, F 11. (Bucher 3, Eeftink 2. Fouled out: Cooper)