December 16, 2007                               Check Out Previous Blogs

Some hot shooting teams fell despite scorching the nets this week.

--Webb City Lady Cardinals (7-3) shot 31 of 45 for the game against highly rated Republic Tigers (7-1) but dropped a 76-70 contest! Webb City hit their first 9 shots of the game and didn't miss a field goal until just 1:10 remained in the opening quarter. The turnover bug (22 for the game) and some hot shooting by Republic turned the tide against the Cardinals in this great contest. Senior Tiger, Kara Blankenship tallied 20 points including the last 8 points of the game!

--- Kirksville trailed 50-36 at half to the Fulton Hornets. The Tigers stormed back in the 3rd quarter and held a 7 point lead with 5 minutes remaining until the final buzzer. Not to be denied, Fulton bounced back  and had the next long run, behind Kaharri Ray (28) and Jason Vann (19), and won the North Central Missouri Conference game 89-87. Kirksville's Cody King dumped in 28 points for the losers.

BEST GAMES OF THE WEEK IN MISSOURI!

---The gym was packed, the noise deafening, the emotions ran high throughout the entire overtime  game between Salem and Rolla. Each team provided the energetic crowd multiple big plays, momentum shifts, long "runs" in a 94-89 Salem win. Salem held an early double digit lead but the game was tied at half 31-31. Rolla came out on fire and built an 11 point lead in the 3rd but Salem cut it to two entering the final quarter. Rolla made the front end of a 1and 1 with 10.1 seconds left to take a 78-75 advantage but missed the 2nd attempt. Jr. Zach Pitchford sent it into OT when he buried his three-ball. The OT session saw both teams with chances to win  Taylor Sirois (Salem) led all scorers with 29 for this exciting night that still had the folks of Rolla buzzing about it all week.

---Entering the week 8-0, St Francis Borgia dropped two consecutive games to larger foes from the MCC (Chaminade and CBC). When the bus company indicated that they would not drive the team to Charleston on Saturday for the game, the Knights had to feel like it was one of those weeks. Traveling by car, rather than bus, the Knight tangled with the always tough Charleston Bluejays in the feature game of the Heartland Hoopfest in Perryville. Charleston built a 10 point lead 27-17 by the end of quarter #1.  It wasn't until the 2nd half, that Borgia tied the Bluejays at 43-43 as the 3rd quarter buzzer sounded. Soph, Nathan Scheer led the Knights with some nifty inside moves as the Knights hung on for a thrilling 65-63 victory!  Look for both of these teams to be strong candidates to land back at Mizzou Arena in March.

-- still one more great game this week. The Sikeston Bulldogs had whipped up on Cape-ND just over 10 days ago. It wasn't until All-Stater Michael Porter sank his first FT with 2.4 ticks left in the game  and gave the Bulldogs a four point lead did he or his teammates feel secure. The final 75-70 score was very indicative of this game. In a game that Sikeston led for most of the game, albeit 7 or less points, the intensity of both teams was sky high. Porter was the game-high scorer with 27 points. Cape-ND star, All-Stater Ryan Willen sat out his 5th consecutive game due to his ankle stress fracture.

No pressure !?

As Soph Taylor Barton stood at the charity stripe waiting for his 3 tosses, his Thomas Jefferson Cavaliers team trailed 37-34 to the visiting Southeast Tojans with all of 1.6 second left in the game. Calmly, or so it appeared, Barton knocked down all 3 free throws and the game headed into OT.  Feeling a 2nd life, the Cavaliers tossed in 16 points in the OT to win 53-47 in the Ozark 7 Conference.

Rally Towel Time !!

Falling behind to the Jefferson City Jays 24-13 at home after one quarter, the Hazelwood Central Hawks used balanced scoring (no player hit double digits), strong rebounding to capture a 55-51 win from the Jays.

Ft Osage tried stretchinnngggg in out but their 10 point 4th quarter lead just couldn't make it to the buzzer. KC Center outscored the Indians 17-5 down the stretch and took home 47-45 victory.

LONG TIME RIVALS SCRAP FOR ALL FOUR QUARTERS!

Unbeknown to many in St. Louis, one of the longest rivalries is in the South County area. The Bayless Bronchos topped their nearby neighbor the Affton Cougars 49-45 in a Suburban East game. Four Bronco players hit the 10+ point plateau in the near South Side rivalry.

The 3-Ball was the difference!

Parkway West Longhorns dropped in six from beyond the arc as they dumped the U City Lions 50-48. The Lions only could hit on two 3-point attempts in this hotly contested game. Patrick Sodemann led the Longhorns with a dozen points.

Trinity Titans scored seven 3-balls to edge Lutheran St-Charles 54-52. The Cougars were 0 of 7 from beyond the arc in the Cougar Classic. Aaron Hill was the game high scorer with 21 for the cougars while Marquise Hill and Corey Ballard each finished with 15 for the Titans(5-3).

.

The Big Man!

A.J.Messmer scored 27 of his team's 50 points as the Timberland Wolves upended Howell Central Spartans 50-48 in GAC play.

MISSOURI ATHLETIC CLUB

Vandalia Bus Lines