St. Vincent boys overpower Vienna to reach quarters

ROLLA, Mo. -- After a sluggish start, St. Vincent guard Alex Armbruster took over in the third quarter to ensure that the Indians' first appearance in the state playoffs since 1987 did not end in the sectional round.

Armbruster's huge third quarter propelled St. Vincent past Vienna 59-43 on Wednesday and into Saturday's Class 2 quarterfinals.

St. Vincent (21-6) led 25-18 at halftime despite a slow start from Armbruster, who averaged more than 30 points per game in the district tournament. Armbruster had six points at the half, but during a 90-second stretch midway through the third, he scored nine straight points for the Indians to stretch the lead to 37-21.

"I thought he came out a little tight early on, but he's going to get his points," St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy said. "He's tough off the dribble and he's got a good outside shot.

"The guys let him do his thing, and they know he will get them involved, and he had a good second half for us. He knows that people will come after him and he will get other people involved. He did that early, but he knows when he needs to take over."

With 1:51 left in the third quarter and St. Vincent leading by 13, Armbruster got Waylon Richardet involved with a nifty behind-the-back pass as he drove down the lane to give the 6-foot-2 junior an easy layup.

Armbruster finished with 24 points to lead the Indians. Richardet added 12.

Vienna finished 17-13.

St. Vincent plays 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Park Hills Central against South Pemiscot (23-6), a 67-63 winner against Van Buren.

The Indians finished with 18 offensive rebounds, including five on one possession early in the third quarter. Jacob DeWilde grabbed the fifth offensive rebound of that possession and was fouled.

"We missed a lot of shots inside, but hey, we got a lot of shots inside, and those shots will fall eventually," Valleroy said. "That's our style; we've got to hit the boards as big as we are and we have to take advantage of it and our guys did a great job on the boards."

While Armbruster struggled to get untracked, St. Vincent's stingy defense kept the Eagles' Michael Ewers and Wayne Fick under wraps the entire game. Fick, after scoring 33 in the district final was held scoreless and Ewers was able to hit only a 3-pointer early in the fourth. Ewers scored

"We played a very good ballclub and I thought we did a very good job defensively," Valleroy said. "We shut down their scorers; so I thought we did a great job defensively."

Matt Helton led the Eagles with 15 points off of four 3-pointers and Damon Farrow scored 10.

ST. VINCENT 59, VIENNA 43

Vienna 5 13 10 15 -- 43

St. Vincent 9 16 17 17 -- 59

VIENNA (43) -- Michael Ewers 3, Matt Helton 15, Tyler Helton 2, Damon Farrow 10, Curt Rowden 2, Rusty Moles 6, Matt Havens 5. FG 16, FT 5-12, F 14 (3-pointers: M. Helton 4, Ewers 1, Moles 1. Fouled out: none)

ST. VINCENT (59) -- Alex Armbruster 24, Danny Rellergert 7, Jacob DeWilde 7, Pat Siegmund 6, Waylon Richardet 12, Eric Clements 1, Ben Buchheit 2. FG 22, FT 14-22, F 14 (3-pointers: Armbruster 1. Fouled out: none)