Leopold defeats Oak Ridge in Woodland Tournament quarterfinal

It wasn’t an ideal start, but consecutive 23-point quarters proved to be plenty of offense as Leopold High School’s boys varsity basketball squad coasted to a 68-46 win over Oak Ridge in a Woodland Tournament quarterfinal contest Dec. 2.

The Wildcats (1-0) missed their first five shot attempts and were held scoreless until a 3-pointer by Preston Campbell with less than 3:40 to go in the opening quarter. That basket cut an early Oak Ridge advantage to 5-3 and it was just 7-5 after eight minutes. Campbell added a basket with 1:15 left in the first period. That was the start of 10-0 Wildcats’ run that pushed the lead to 13-7, which included a pair of 3s from Tommy Beussink.

During the offensive struggles for both sides early on, Leopold was just 2-for-8 from the field while the Bluejays weren’t much better, faring 3-for-7.

“Both teams came out, first game of the season, struggling offensively,” Leopold coach said John Crowley said. “I felt like our defense kept us in the game early until we kind of got our legs underneath us, we kind of relaxed a little bit on offense. I’m very pleased with the defense through the first three quarters. We kind of got a little lax there in the fourth quarter, but that’ll come with maturity and understanding what we want to do.”

Campbell scored 25 points to lead all scorers. He made eight field goals and was 7-for-10 at the foul line.

Beussink finished with 15 points. Avery Hoesli sank two third quarter 3-pointers while Josh Horrell added five points, all in the third quarter.

Leopold led 28-14 at halftime after outscoring Oak Ridge 23-7 in the second quarter. The Wildcats held a 51-27 advantage going into the final period.

“We talked to them at halftime and said, ‘Hey, the first two or three minutes of the second half is the key. They can get right back in it.’ I thought we came out (in the third quarter) with a lot of intensity, got a couple buckets, got that lead to 20. It’s hard for kids, when they’re looking at the scoreboard. That’s one of those reasons why we kinda went to that delayed game action to kind of relax. I’m happy overall with the total effort. We only returned one starter from last year. I had freshmen and sophomores, a junior out there that didn’t play last year, so very very pleased with the effort.”

Leopold advances to take on top-seeded Woodland in a semifinal contest. That game occurred Tuesday, Dec. 3. The winner will play in the championship game between either Meadow Heights or Greenville.

Friday’s consolation final will have Oak Ridge facing Perryville at 5 p.m.

The third place contest is scheduled to tip at 6:30 p.m. and will include the squads that drop the two semifinal games.