SCOTT CITY — The St. Vincent Indians (11-5) fell behind early and weren’t able to make up the difference, falling 73-64 to the host Scott City Rams (13-3) at Scott City High School on Jan. 23.
“They’re a very good ball club,” said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. “They kind of jumped on us a little bit early, but as the first quarter went along, I think we finally realized, ‘Hey, we can play with these guys.’”
That realization didn’t carry as much weight as Valleroy hoped. At the end of the first quarter, the Indians trailed by one, 17-16, but despite a valiant effort, the gap had widened to 11, 39- 28, by halftime.
“We had some turnovers,” Valleroy said. “They were much bigger than we were and more physical. We made some adjustments and thought we could come out in the second half and play with them, and we did. At least five different times in the second half — and probably even more — we were down 10 and had the ball, and just could never get any closer,” Valleroy said. “It just seemed like it was a 10-point game all through the second half.”
In the third quarter, Scott City only outscored the Indians by six, 20-14, and the Indians found their footing in the fourth quarter, finishing the game on a 22-14 run, but it just wasn’t enough.
“Overall, it felt like we did a lot of good things,” Valleroy said. “We know we have some things that we have to work on yet. But playing a team as good as they are, we hung in there.”
Senior forward Max Wheeler led the Indians with 24 points, followed by junior Colden Prost with 14. Freshman Liam Nations had 9, and junior Case Huber had 8.
For Scott City, Max Snider had 24 points, followed by Braeden Walton with 16, Carter Burger with 14, and Kaden Lowery with 12.
ST. VINCENT 64, JEFFERSON 57
St. Vincent senior forward Max Wheeler scored a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds to lead St. Vincent past Jefferson (11-7) in a Jefferson County Athletic Association conference matchup at St. Vincent High School in Perryville on Jan. 20.
“Jefferson was a good game for us,” said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. “I thought defensively, we were on top of our game. We really got after the ball on the defensive end, and really made it difficult for them to get into any flow. I was very pleased with our defense.”
The Indians led 35-28 at the half and 54-44 after three quarters. The Bluejays actually outscored St. Vincent 12-10 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.
Junior Colden Prost had 13 points for the Indians, and freshman Liam Nations had 8. Junior Case Huber had 5 points and 7 assists.
For Jefferson, Talon Watson had 21 points, followed by Blayne Wilson with 16 and Colton Broadwater with 12.
