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Missouri-St. Louis, Hazelwood Central Hosting State Basketball Quarterfinals
BY JIM WIENERS
High School Basketball continues Saturday with State Quarterfinal games on Saturday at various sites including the University of Missouri-St. Louis for Class Five and Hazelwood Central for Class Four.
At the University of Missouri-St. Louis Mark Twain Building, Jackson or Lindbergh plays Parkway South or defending state Champion Vashon in a 1 p.m. boys game, Jackson or Mehlville plays Normandy or St. Joseph’s Academy in a 2:45 girls game, McCluer North or Lafayette plays DeSmet or Webster Groves in a 6 p.m. boys game and Hazelwood East or Francis Howell Central plays Nerinx Hall or defending state champion Incarnate Word Academy in a 7:45 girls game.
At the Hazelwood Central Fieldhouse McCluer South-Berkeley or Westminster Christian Academy plays St. Charles High or Kirksville High in a 1 p.m. boy’s game while Miller Career Academy or Westminster Christian Academy plays St. Dominic (O’Fallon, Mo.) or Kirksville High in a 2:45 girl’s game.
For results of Sectional games played Feb. 28 and updates of Saturday’s Quarterfinal games go to www.mshsaa.org/results.
Districts in Classes One, Two and Three conclude this weekend. Lutheran North, North County Tech and Trinity Catholic were scheduled to compete in Class Three, District Five at Whitfield. The Tournament started Monday for Boys, Tuesday for Girls and Wednesday for defending Boys State Champion Cardinal Ritter. Lutheran North girls play Thursday 6 p.m. against one of the Tuesday’s winners (undetermined at press time) and the finals are Friday at 6 p.m. for girls and 7:30 for boys.
The state tournaments for Classes Four and Five are March 9-10 at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Mizzou Arena. Class Three Sectionals are March 7 at St. Charles West and Quarterfinals are March 10 at Hannibal High.
McCLUER NORTH BOYS, HAZELWOOD EAST GIRLS WIN
McCluer North Boys and Hazelwood East Girls are the lone survivors in the Suburban North Conference and each are coming off championships in an all Suburban North district — Class Five, District Five — that ended last Saturday at Hazelwood East. McCluer North (22-3) defeated McCluer High, 56-34 on Feb. 21, and Riverview Gardens, 68-52 last Saturday, in Boys Basketball. Hazelwood East (21-5) defeated McCluer North, 68-60 on Feb. 20, and Hazelwood Central, 74-68 in overtime last Saturday, in Girls Basketball.
In Boys Basketball McCluer North junior Anthony Booker led the Stars in scoring against McCluer with 13 points and shared a team high 16 points with junior Femi John in the win over Riverview Gardens. Booker has been playing with a sore left knee and could not score in a 66-46 home loss Feb. 15 to Hazelwood Central. However Riverview upset Central 49-43 prior to McCluer North’s win over McCluer denying the Hawks-Stars rematch.
McCluer North made sure they were ready for Riverview and Stars’ head coach Randy Reed wanted to let the Rams know who was going to control the tempo and the inside game. Reed got some inspiration from his high school coach, former Vashon mentor Floyd Irons who said Irons told him “just be prepared for the next game.”
It was McCluer North’s fifth district title win, the second in the last three years. McCluer North was 2-0 against McCluer and 3-0 against Riverview Gardens.
In Girls Basketball Hazelwood East won their second straight district title, their seventh overall. Junior Channon Haywood scored 18 points and pulled down 7 rebounds against McCluer North then scored 17 points in the overtime heart-throbber against Hazelwood Central.
East played McCluer North and Hazelwood Central three times each including the Suburban North Tournament, league play and districts. While East defeated McCluer North three times Hazelwood Central had defeated East the first two games and the district title game was a see-saw affair until Hazelwood Central had their fourth player foul out in overtime, with two more playing to the end with four fouls.
East also had foul trouble as three players finished with four fouls each and head coach Terry Creamer told his players “to stay aggressive but not go over the back (of Central‘s players).”
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