Parkway South's Antonio Bryant (left) puts up a one-handed lay up over Marquette's Chad Haley.
(Jason Fritz/P-D) |
TOWN AND COUNTRY — The Parkway South boys basketball team took the slimmest of leads and quickly turned it into double digits with smart offense and tough defense.
The Patriots pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Marquette 72-60 Friday night at CBC and claim their second consecutive district title.
The final score was not indicative of how close the Class 5 District 5 matchup was, as neither team held more than a five-point lead through the first three quarters. But the Patriots (26-2), No. 5 in the Post-Dispatch large-schools rankings, started building on their lead by keeping Marquette (18-9) off the scoreboard.
In the first half, Marquette's Chad Haley scored 13 points. But he finished with 20 points, none in the fourth quarter.
"He's an amazing player," Parkway South coach Mitch Stevens said. "He took it to us in the first half, but we were able to contain him."
At the same time, Ben Hoener grabbed the offensive reins for Parkway South.
Hoener, who had 20 points, stopped with the ball just across midcourt and ran nearly a minute off the clock before he diced his way down the middle of the lane for a 56-51 lead with 5 minutes, 42 seconds left. He paused again before penetrating on the next possession, but he lost the ball near the basket.
Parkway South's Mark Wright scooped up the loose ball and converted the easy layup for a 58-51 lead with five minutes left.
Wright finished with a game-high 22 points.
"Ben's a good penetrator, so if they do come out and guard us, he can usually break them down," Wright said. "When people come to help stop him, I look for him to dish off to me, or he looks to dish off to anyone that's open."
The Patriots extended to 65-51 on Hoener's basket and free throw with two minutes left.
Marquette kept the game close through the first three quarters on Haley's penetration and the perimeter shooting of Chris Rosehill, who hit four of nine 3-pointers to finish with 12 points.
"I know there's a lot of schools that don't think much of this plaque, but for us to put one up on our wall gives our kids some incentive," Marquette coach Shane Matzen said. "Some day when we get where we want to be, it's going to be because of this bunch."
Parkway South advances to sectional play at Northwest High School on Wednesday.
ST. JOSEPH'S 70, PARKWAY SOUTH 52 — St. Joseph's had a plan from the outset, and the Angels never wavered from it. They pounded the ball inside first, opening up the outside for even more offense, and pulled away late for the victory.
The Angels (23-4), No. 2 in the Post-Dispatch large-schools rankings, got the ball early to Myrtie Reilly on the low post. She scored 16 points.
The inside-first approach also sent Parkway South's Ebony Davis to the bench with foul trouble for several minutes in the second half. Davis was held to eight points — 10 short of her average.
"We were trying to isolate (on defense) and let Myrtie take her one-on-one and not help because Ebony does a nice job with a drop-step, power move to the right," St. Joseph's coach Julie Matheny said. "I think it kind of caught them off-guard."
Once the inside scoring was working, the outside began to open up for Patrice King, and when she wasn't zipping a pass inside to Reilly, she was pulling up for a midrange jumper. King had 16 points at halftime and finished with a game-high 28.
Parkway South's pregame warm-up worked to perfection. The Patriots opened up an early 17-9 lead on four-of-six shooting from behind the 3-point arc.
But the Patriots (22-6), seventh in the large-schools rankings, cooled off after the first five minutes, and the Angels held Parkway South to one field goal in nearly 10 minutes.
St. Joseph's turned Parkway South's drought into a 32-22 second-quarter lead. The Patriots clawed back to 41-39 in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Ashley Brentz, but they would get no closer; the Angels went 21 of 24 from the free-throw line.
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