Panthers hold off Leopold 68-67

PATTON, Mo. -- Meadow Heights weathered three Leopold shots in the final 30 seconds, including one which banged off the rim at the buzzer, as the Panthers opened the season with a 68-67 victory Tuesday night.

The win provided a successful debut for new Panther coach Tom Brown.

Cody Thompson led Meadow Heights with 15 points, including a big basket in the final minute that gave the Panthers a three-point lead. Josh Mayfield added 14 points and Joe Fulton finished with 11.

Kevin Holzum scored a game-high 20 points for Leopold. Scott VanGennip tallied 17 points, Paul Hutchings had 15 and Josh Van de Ven tallied 13.

Meadow Heights jumped out to a 9-0 lead but Leopold tied it 18-18 by close of the first quarter. The Panthers led 40-32 at halftime and led 57-50 entering the fourth quarter.

The two teams will meet again on Tuesday in the first round of the Woodland Tournament.

MARQUAND 58, NORTH COUNTY 55

MARQUAND, Mo. -- After trailing by double figures for much of the second half, Marquand clawed its way back and Heath Stephens hit a 3-pointer in the waning seconds as the Tigers won their season opener.

Stephens finished with a game-high 27 points as Marquand outscored North County 22-11 in a frantic fourth quarter.

Adam Statler hit two free throws with about one minute left to pull Marquand to a 55-55 tie.

Marquand, which trailed 44-36 going into the fourth quarter, then forced a turnover, milked the clock and set up a play with 10 seconds left. Stephens' three hit nothing but net.

"I tell you what, I felt like we played awesome," said Marquand coach Jason McCurry. "My boys showed heart tonight and didn't give up."

HERCULANEUM 65, FREDERICKTOWN 49

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- Brett Reutzel's first game as Fredericktown's coach was a loss, but he was far from disappointed.

"We start three sophomores and our two seniors who led us in scoring tonight hardly got off the bench last year," said Reutzel, the former Cape Central coach. "I was very impressed for the first game. We were in there until pretty late and Herculaneum is supposed to be a pretty good team."

Jared Quinton led Fredericktown with 18 points and Wes Stevens had 12.

Sharp-shooting guard Nathan Dunn paced Herculaneum with 24 points.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

PERRYVILLE 74, CHESTER 41

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Sophomore April Lorenz poured in a game-high 25 points as the host Lady Pirates won its season opener in the round-robin Perryville Tournament.

Lorenz, who battled foul problems, scored 12 of her points in the second quarter when Perryville extended a 13-11 lead into a 41-24 halftime advantage.

Senior Amanda Nuyt added 19 points for Perryville.

The Lady Pirates play North County tonight as it concludes the three-team tournament.

Cape Central JV Tournament

Sikeston, Jackson and Poplar Bluff all posted victories in the Cape Central junior varsity tournament.

Sikeston knocked off Cape Central 41-22, Jackson downed Notre Dame 53-35 and Poplar Bluff beat Farmington 44-28.

Jessi Snell led Cape Central with six points.

Central eighth-grade girls basketball splits

JACKSON, Mo. -- Cape Central and Jackson split a pair of eighth-grade girls basketball games.

Jackson won the 'A' game 33-18. Jami Dement scored four points for Cape Central (2-9).

Cape Central (5-2) won the 'B' contest 21-20 behind nine points by Meghan Orr.

-- From staff reports