STE. GENEVIEVE — St. Vincent senior Max Wheeler scored 29 points and collected 14 rebounds to help power the Indians (7-2) to a 72-48 victory over Valle Catholic on Dec. 30 in the championship round of the annual Winter Warrior Classic tournament.
“He had a great game,” said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. “He was 13 out of 17 from the field. A lot of them were shots around the basket and everything. He pretty well did whatever he wanted to do. He played a really good game for us.”
His next might prove a bit more challenging. In a scheduling twist, St. Vincent’s next regular-season opponent on Jan. 7 will offer Valle (1-2) another shot at the Indians, this time on SV’s home court.
“We kind of knew that going into the tournament,” Valleroy said. “We saw they were on the other side of the bracket and we’re like, ‘Well, there’s a possibility.’ We kind of knew in the back of our mind that we’d maybe have a chance that we may play them again. That’s kind of happened a couple times over the years where we see them in a tournament and then have to turn around and play them again.”
That still might not be the last time the teams could meet up.
“They’re in our district,” Valleroy said. “You definitely want to beat everybody in your district, so when you go to the seed meeting, uh, you can, uh, you know, kind of brag a little where you’re at and everything so you can maybe get a good seed.”
That said, Valleroy expects a completely different game next time around.
“We know they’re going to make some adjustments,” Valleroy said. “They’re still learning. They don’t have any seniors on the team. They’re all juniors, and some younger kids are playing for them. They’re getting their feet wet just like we are. We are expecting a whole different type of ball game.”
In tournament play, the Indians got off to a quick start, building a 21-13 lead by the end of the first quarter and outscoring the Warriors 20-10 in the second on the way to a 40-23 halftime lead.
“We played pretty well,” Valleroy said. “We got on them right off the bat, jumped on them, and had a good game overall, all four quarters. We won three of the four quarters. We played 12 quarters in the tournament, and we won 11 of the quarters and tied one quarter. It was a great tournament for us.”
In addition to Wheeler’s game-high 29, three other St. Vincent players scored more than 10 points. Freshman Clay Ellis had 12 points, while juniors Case Huber and Colden Prost had 11 each. Prost finished with 8 assists and Huber 5.
“That was something,” Valleroy said. “In this tournament, we had a different leading scorer in all three games. That’s awesome when you can have four people in double figures. It kind of balances it out, and it’s tough for teams to defend somebody. They go defend Max, and we feel like we’ve got some other players that can play. If they’re going to guard those guys, hopefully Max will be able to take over.”
For Valle, Brody Bertrand had 12 points, while Phillip Naeger and Evan Viox had 10 each.
ST. VINCENT 77, KINGSTON 11
STE. GENEVIEVE — St. Vincent junior Colden Prost scored 26 points to help lead the Indians to a 44-point victory over Kingson on Dec. 29 in the semifinal round of the annual Winter Warrior Classic tournament at Valle Catholic.
“We really played well,” said St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy. “We came out, shot the ball really well, and got after it on our press. They had trouble handling our pressure, and really had a good flow offensively. We had great balanced scoring again.”
Senior Max Wheeler finished with 17 points, freshman Clay Ellis had 13, and freshman Liam Nations had 11.
