Class 3 District 2 Tournament Woodland, Scott City’s to lose

One thing is for certain about the Class 3 District 2 boys basketball tournament.

Someone will win their first district championship in a long time.

The most recent district winner is Arcadia Valley, who last won in 2021. Then Scott City in 2020, Saxony Lutheran in 2018, and an absolute drought for the rest of the field.

This has the makings of an exciting district tournament. There’s no doubt the finale will end with hundreds of hands in the stands raised to the air while letting out a euphoric “Finally!”

All eyes will be on Scott City, who have dominated the competition since the turn of the calendar. The Rams are 14-1 since Jan. 8 and are riding an 11-game winning streak into the district tournament. A streak that includes winning both the Scott-Miss Conference regular season and tournament championship.

The Rams won their previous two games by a combined score of 175-99. Against Twin Rivers on Feb. 21, they went on a 30-8 first-quarter run to cruise to another blowout win. Kaden Lowery led the team with 19 points while Kobe Watson and Braeden Walton each added 15 points.

The same thing happened against Perryville on Feb. 14. The Rams jumped out to a 27-9 advantage in the first quarter and Lowery exploded with 28 points through the game. Watson, who scored 21 points during that game, has transformed from a sharpshooter to a complete offensive player.

The senior duo of Watson and Jayden Rulo, mixed with the sophomore trio of Walton, Lowery, and Max Snider, has given the Rams one of the best-starting fives in the Bootheel.

Throughout the season, the Rams have averaged 75.4 points per game offensively but more impressively, their defense has allowed 44.5 points per game. Like their offensive numbers, the Rams' defensive averages are lower than any previous season since MSHSAA started tracking such stats in 2009.

"Our defense has stepped up," Scott City junior Jackson Gloth said earlier in the season. "Our man-defense has stepped up, the zone has been working best for us lately, but man has been working better lately."

The Rams finished the regular season with 22 wins, tying their previous season. A win in the semifinals against either Arcadia Valley or Clearwater will raise the bar for them.

Not to be overlooked, Woodland defeated Puxico 77-67 on Saturday to enter the district tournament with 20 wins for the third year in a row.

This is a special run for Cardinals head coach Shawn Kinder, as he and assistant coach Ryan Layton to coach a team that is being led by their sons, Korbin Kinder and Calvin Layton.

“We’re starting to see the fruits of our labor,” Kinder said earlier in the season. “It’s just remarkable to see the kids be so successful and then our kids to be a big part of that. It’s something special that we talked about for a long time and now starting to see come to fruition.”

The Cardinals previously defeated the Rams in the third-place game in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Dec. 30, 2024. As the top two seeds, they will undoubtedly meet in the tournament final.

The first round of games between Saxony Lutheran and Greenville (6 p.m.) and Arcadia Valley vs. Clearwater (7:30 p.m.) takes place on Monday, Feb. 24. The semifinals will tip off on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with the final round on Friday, Feb. 28.