It was an exciting week of Wildcat basketball as both the boys and the girls teams looked to stay alive in the postseason. The boys wrapped up their district tournament on Monday night with a championship showdown against Metro League partner and top-seeded John Burroughs.
The Wildcats hosted the Bombers on January 31 in a league matchup which saw Burroughs dominate the paint and pull away late for a 61-46 win over the Cats. The 6'9" and 6'11" post players for Burroughs proved to be too much for a Westminster team that tops at 6'4" to handle on that night. It was the first time that the Wildcats had allowed an opponent to score over 60 points since December 28, 2022 against De Smet, also a Westminster loss. Coach Dale Ribble and the Wildcats would have to figure out how to negate the height of the Burroughs front line players who scored a combined 40 points on that night.
From the first defensive possession, it was clear how the Wildcats would attempt to slow down the Burroughs offense. The Bombers offense leaned heavily on a high-low strategy where one big man would catch the ball at the free throw line (the high post) and attempt to lob it in to his teammate in the low post for an easy layup or dunk. Whenever the ball entered the high post, the Westminster defense sagged into the lane to take away the pass and dared the Burroughs big man to take a jump shot. At first, the Bombers took the bait and made a couple and missed a couple but as the game wore on, they became more and more reluctant to take the shot and their offense stagnated. Without an evident backup plan, Burroughs only scored 46 points in the rematch and the two stalwart post players were held to 22 total points.
On the offensive end, Will Powers fueled the Wildcat attack with one dazzling play after another. Burroughs attempted to guard Powers with their 6'3" athletic guard giving Will ample one-on-one opportunities. Numerous step back threes and pull up jumpers found the bottom of the net as Powers went 12 for 20 from the field including 5-10 from three and led all scorers with 29 points. Senior JD Robertson scored seven points and made two crucial free throws at the end of the game to put the Wildcats up two possessions with only five seconds remaining.
Despite playing great basketball in the first quarter, the Cats only held a slim 17-15 lead which quickly dissolved in the second quarter. Only able to score seven points in the second frame, the team went into the locker room down seven at the break. Coming out of halftime, the Cats gave Burroughs a taste of their own defensive medicine holding the Bombers to six points in the third quarter as they cut the lead to three. The boys then continued to clamp down on defense allowing only nine more Burroughs points as they took the lead in the fourth quarter and held on to pull off the 50-46 upset and capture the district championship. While Powers shined on the offensive end, it was truly the team effort on the defensive end that made the difference.
The district championship set up a Class 5 quarterfinal matchup at Westminster against McCluer North on Friday with the winner advancing to the Final Four at Mizzou Arena the following week. The drama wasn't limited to only basketball as meteorologists forecasted a significant weather event including high winds and possible tornadoes and hail to hit the St. Louis area that night. The decision was made to move the start time of the game from 7 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in order to get the game in before the weather front arrived in Town and Country. The only hiccup during the game was a power flicker during the third quarter that momentarily stopped action as the scoreboard had to be reset.
Both defenses came ready to play and the offenses lacked rhythm and flow at times as the teams struggled to get any scoring consistency. The teams traded leads throughout with the Cats ahead 19-17 at the half and 33-29 after three quarters. The clinching moment in the fourth quarter came with Westminster up to 37-31 and two and half minutes remaining in the game. Powers drew a double team at the top of the key and found an open JD Robertson on the left wing for a deep three that put the Cats up by nine and the game all but out of reach for the visiting Stars. From there, both teams traded some made (and missed) free throws to give a final score of 48-40 in favor of the home team. Powers again led the Cats with 21 points while JD Robertson added 15.
The team will travel to Columbia on Wednesday to play Webster Groves at 6 p.m. in the first Class 5 semifinal game. The other half of the bracket features Parkview and Summit Christian Academy. A Wednesday night win propels the Cats to the championship game on Thursday at 8 p.m. while a loss moves them to the third place game at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
All tickets must be purchased through the MSHSAA website. If you can't make it to the game, you can catch the championship action on MSHSAA.tv. Let's Go Cats!
Metro Sports STL - District Championship Article
STL High School Sports - State Quarterfinal Article
