Zalma boys basketball team upends Meadow Heights, advances to Woodland Invitational Tournament semifinal

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Zalma boys basketball team proved Monday that its 2015-16 edition could be in store for a big year.

Led by a game-high 41 points from senior Brent Overbey, the fifth-seeded Bulldogs opened their season with an 82-59 win over fourth-seeded Meadow Heights in the first round of the Woodland Invitational Tournament at Woodland High School.

"I feel like we just came out and proved people wrong that we're not just Zalma anymore," Overbey said. "We're here to play this year. It's our time."

Zalma will face top-seeded Scott City in a semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Thursday while the Panthers will take on eighth-seeded Delta in a consolation semifinal at 7:30 p.m. today. The Rams easily disposed of the Bobcats 90-15 in the first game of the tournament.

"Like I said coming into the season, offense isn't going to be a problem," Zalma coach Bryant Fernetti said. "We've just got to commit to playing defense, and that's what we did a pretty good job of tonight."

The first quarter saw five lead changes until a bucket by Luke Robertson put the Bulldogs ahead for good at 13-12.

Zalma (1-0) went on a 16-6 run to begin the second quarter, capped by a fastbreak layup from Christopher Lombeida with 4 minutes, 59 seconds left in the period. The Bulldogs led by as many as 17 points in the quarter and carried a 46-32 advantage into halftime.

"I think we kind of settled down offensively," said Fernetti, whose team committed 11 turnovers in the first half but only four in the second half. "We were sloppy early."

Zalma's Dallan Stotts drives to the basket past Meadow Heights Spencer Bragg during the second quarter of a first-round game in the Woodland Invitational Tournament Monday, Nov. 30, 2015 in Marble Hill, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Meadow Heights (1-1) trimmed its deficit to 55-45 when Wilfong scored back-to-back buckets with 2:59 remaining in the third quarter, but a 3-pointer from the left corner by Overbey concluded an 8-0 run for Zalma, which led 63-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Overbey finished 15-of-25 (60 percent) shooting, including 7 of 14 (50 percent) from beyond the arc.

"He did a good job of playing within the game," Fernetti said about Overbey. "... It wasn't the fact that he was scoring all night. It was more the fact that a lot of his buckets were pretty key."

The Panthers struggled against the Bulldogs' full-court pressure. They turned the ball over 26 times and had 12 first-half fouls.

"Those were just mental mistakes and frustration because we were getting pressured," Meadow Heights coach Nick Hermann said. "Zalma took it to us. They came out and played hard. They played fast, and it's hard to practice that. So whenever you finally get to that, you struggle."

Sophomore Lane Baremore had 14 points to lead Meadow Heights, which shot 26 of 74 (35 percent) from the field.

"Lane's young. He's got a lot to grow like a lot of them do," Hermann said. "There were positives though. He screwed up sometimes. He'll own up to it like a lot of them do. It's just coming together as a team more than an individual effort right now.

Lombeida contributed 11 points for Zalma, and Fernetti was pleased with the contribution from his bench.

"The thing that's really going to help us is when we go to our bench, we really don't lose a whole lot," Fernetti said. "We can go deep. We can constantly apply pressure, and that's what we've talked for the last month in practice is just constantly putting pressure on people."

The Bulldogs dropped a 78-67 decision at home against Scott City a year ago, and Fernetti said his players are looking forward to facing a familiar opponent.

"If we want to get where we think we can get, it's a good measure to see where we're at," Fernetti said about playing the Rams. "... Both of us play the same sort of style, so I think it should be a fun one to watch and play."

Zalma 17 29 17 19 -- 82

Meadow Hts. 14 18 13 14 -- 59

ZALMA (82) -- Brent Overbey 41, Christopher Lombeida 11, Cole Shelby 9, Dallan Stotts 8, Alex Steinberg 5, Jacob Steinberg 2, Luke Robertson 2, Wyatt Lemons 2, Logan Borders 2. FG 33, FT 7-21, F 19. (3-pointers: Overbey 7, Stotts 1. Fouled out: none.)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (59) -- Lane Baremore 14, Jacob Hunt 8, Devin Wilfong 8, Nick Mayfield 7, Trent Liley 5, Brendan Welker 5, Jacob Douglas 4, Spencer Bragg 4, Scott Pohlman 4. FG 26, FT 6-17, F 19. (3-pointers: Welker 1. Fouled out: Douglas, Mayfield.)

Woodland 82, Leopold 42

Woodland's Paul Duncan drives against Leopold's Dalton Forrester during the fourth quarter of a first-round game in the Woodland Invitational Tournament Monday, Nov. 30, 2015 in Marble Hill, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

The second-seeded Cardinals had nine players score in the first-round victory over the No. 7 Wildcats.

Zach Beel led the way for Woodland (1-0), finishing with a game-high 19 points. Cole Schlief added 14 points for the Cardinals while Tyler Womack contributed 13 points. Woodland will face the winner between No. 3 Perryville and No. 6 Oak Ridge in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Garrett Thele scored 17 points to lead Leopold (0-1), which will take on the loser of today's first-round matchup between Perryville and Oak Ridge.

Leopold 12 15 7 8 -- 42

Woodland 28 24 22 8 -- 82

LEOPOLD (42) -- Garrett Thele 17, Tristen Graham 9, Dalton Forrester 8, Grant Koenig 3, Ryan Lewis 2, Blake Leazenby 2, David Gray 1. FG 12. FT 11-16, F 13. (3-pointers: Graham 3, Forrester 2, Koenig, Thele. Fouled out: none.)

WOODLAND (82) -- Zach Beel 19, Cole Schlief 14, Tyler Womack 13, Michael McCormick 9, Bruester Young 9, Paul Duncan 6, Connor Goodwin 5, Landon Thomsen 4, Jake Long 3. FG 34, FT 7-14, F 17. (3-pointers: Womack 3, McCormick 2, Schlief, Young. Fouled out: none.)

Scott City 90, Delta 15

Jordan Kluesner scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Rams to a first-round win over the eighth-seeded Bobcats.

Dylan Keller added 14 points for Scott City (1-0) while Trent Pobst and Braden Cox each contributed 13 points. The Rams led 59-8 at halftime.

Triston Perry finished with nine points to pace Delta (0-2).

Delta 4 4 3 4 -- 15

Scott City 23 36 17 14 -- 90

DELTA (15) -- David Taylor 2, Brandt Headrick 4, Triston Perry 9. FG 5, FT 5-10, F 10 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none.)

SCOTT CITY (90) -- Dylan Keller 14, Lance Pruden 7, Trent Pobst 13, David Smith 2, Nick Bickings 3, Jordan Kluesner 23, Casey Medlin 4, Matt Groves 2, Braden Cox 13, Jaden Kaiser 9. FG 34, FT 7-7, F 15 (3-pointers: Keller 2, Pruden 1, Bickings 1, Kaiser 1. Fouled out: none.)