Perryville wins Woodland tournament

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- You know the basketball line about free throws and close games? The one that says making free throws wins them?

Well, build a big enough lead and you can afford to miss a few.

The Perrville Pirates demonstrated that in a 54-50 win over Leopold in the championship game of the Woodland Tournament on Friday night.

Perryville, the tournament's top seed, led by nine points with two minutes to play before its struggles at the line set in.

The Pirates went 2 of 7 from the line, including misses on the front end of three 1-and-1 trips.

"The game should have never got to the point where it was a one-possession game," Perryville coach Joel Roth said.

But it did. After a Perryville turnover in the backcourt, Leopold's Lance Seiler missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds to go before Perryville's Cody Call sank the second of two free throws to finally secure the victory.

"They started pressing a little bit, but they kind of did that the whole game," Perryville's Ross Moldenhauer said. "We just got nervous I think."

Roth said nerves likely contributed to his team's performance at the line.

"We're a better free-throw shooting team than this," Roth said. "I've seen these guys shoot them, and I've seen them shoot them in the past at the lower levels and three of them for me last year. We're a much better free-throw shooting team than what we showed this week, but it's going to cost us games down the stretch."

Leopold outscored Perryville in the first and fourth quarters, but the Pirates controlled the middle of the game and closed the first half on a 12-3 run.

"I think the defense in the middle two quarters was the difference in the game because we weren't shooting the ball well from the perimeter," Roth said. "Before tonight, we were shooting over 50 percent in the first two games from 3-point range, and I think we were only 1 for 12 tonight."

The Pirates also made the most of their height advantage and rebounding abilities to earn second-chance points throughout the game.

"They killed us on the boards," Leopold coach Shawn Kinder said. "They just destroyed us. With them missing a few free throws down the stretch and us not getting rebounds and them getting put-backs, that just breaks your back."

Both coaches had more to say about what their teams can do better as the season progresses than compliments for their players.

"It's great to start 3-0," Roth said. "But like I told the boys now, 'I don't want to ruin your weekend and enjoy winning the tournament, but it's obvious we've got a lot of things that we can still improve on.'"

Kinder lamented what he judged to be passive play on offense and the time it took for the Wildcats' pressure defense to start causing problems for the Pirates.

"Hopefully we can learn from this," Kinder said. "Hopefully go back and watch film and talk about a few of the things we need to work on. I've got a good group. They love to play. They're willing to learn."

Leopold's John Bohnsack, who made six 3-pointers in the game, led all scorers with 22 points, while Kyle Stroder and Seiler also finished in double digits with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Junior Bryce Weibrecht led Perryville with 18 points and Moldenhauer added 11.

Oak Ridge 70, Meadow Heights 60

Brett Thomas scored a game-high 25 points to lead Oak Ridge to victory over the Meadow Heights Panthers in the third-place game.

The Blue Jays never trailed in the game after taking a 10-8 lead in the first quarter.

Meadow Heights (2-2) played most of the second half without standout guard Calen Buerck, who was in foul trouble throughout the game before fouling out before the end of the third quarter.

Oak Ridge shot 34 free throws in the game and outscored Meadow Heights 25-9 from the line.

Senior Adam Walker, who scored 22 points, was the only Panthers player to reach double digits.

Senior Caleb Elam added 13 points and junior Jacob Light had 11 for Oak Ridge (2-1).

Delta 70, Zalma 68

Delta senior Zach Riegert rebounded teammate Chase Crowden's missed jumper and scored as the buzzer sounded to give his team a win over Zalma in the consolation game.

Crowden led Delta with 22 points. Greg Brawley had 21 and Riegert added 16.

Zalma, which lost a one-point game at the buzzer in the first round, was led by Stephen Simmers with 31 points. Justin Stotts scored 18.

Championship game

Perryville 54, Leopold 50

Leopold 12 6 16 16 -- 50

Perryville 10 14 20 10 -- 54

LEOPOLD (50) -- Kyle Stroder 14, Robert Brown 2, John Bohnsack 22, Lance Seiler 10, Brandon Jansen 2. FG 19, FT 5-7, F 14. (3-pointers: Bohnsack 6, Seiler 1. Fouled out: none)

PERRYVILLE (54) -- Jake Dobbelare 9, Cody Call 5, Colby Brown 4, Ross Moldenhauer 11, Bryce Weibrecht 18, Jared Thieret 7. FG 25, FT 3-9, F 11. (3-pointers: Moldenhauer 1. Fouled out: none)

Third-place game

Oak Ridge 70, Meadow Heights 60

Meadow Hts 14 16 12 18 -- 60

Oak Ridge 18 21 14 17 -- 70

MEADOW HEIGHTS (60) -- Adam Walker 22, Aaron Mayfield 3, Daylan Davis 6, Aaron Rankin 7, Curtis Braswell 6, Calen Buerck 5, Tanner Bollman 2. FG 23, FT 8-13, F 23. (3-pointers: Walker 4, Buerck 1. Fouled out: Buerck, Braswell)

OAK RIDGE (70) -- Caleb Elam 13, Lucas Rohde 3, Jacob Light 11, Ryan Below 7, Brett Thomas 25, Kyle Rohde 7, Corvin Schoen 4. FG 21, FT 25-34, F 12. (3-pointers: Elam 2, L. Rohde 1. Fouled out: none)

Consolation game

Delta 70, Zalma 68

Delta 17 17 15 21 -- 70

Zalma 16 16 16 20 -- 68

DELTA (70) -- Greg Brawley 21, Brandon Horman 3, Zach Riegert 16, Seth Blattel 2, Chase Crowden 22, Austin Lashley 6. FG 27, FT 6-12, F 12. (3-pointers: Brawley 6, Riegert 2, Crowden 2. Fouled out: Horman)

ZALMA (68) -- Austin Sitze 8, Stephen Simmers 31, Floris De Jongh 3, Gage Lemons 8, Justin Stotts 18. FG 27, FT 11-13, F 11. (3-pointers: Simmers 2, De Jongh 1. Fouled out: none)