Leopold advances to championship game of Woodland Tournament

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Leopold finally got the revenge it was looking for.

The Wildcats took down Perryville 66-30 in the first semifinal of the Woodland Tournament on Thursday night.

The win not only placed Leopold in today's 8 p.m. championship match against Scott City, it erased two years of bad memories.

"Well this team has knocked us out two years in a row now," Leopold coach Andy Beck said. "So these kids were hungry. That's all I've been talking about all day. These guys are the guys that have eliminated us two years in a row now, so they were hungry. They definitely saw the Perryville jersey and were pretty pumped up."

The Wildcats (2-0) certainly showed it.

Leopold’s Kyle Stroder looks to pass against Perryville during the second quarter of the Woodland Invitational semifinal in Marble Hill, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

The score was 16-1 in favor of Leopold before the Pirates knew what happened.

"Normally you walk into these games and you don't know what to expect," Beck said. "The game before the championship and your kids are seeded high and you don't know what to expect. But we came out and they were ready to play, that's for sure."

The Wildcats did everything to back up their top seed, while the fourth-seeded Pirates struggled offensively.

The Pirates settled in late in the first quarter to make it 20-7. Perryville closed the gap to 22-11 in the second quarter before the Wildcats took off.

Joe Elfrink buried a 3-pointer right with less than a minute to play in the first half and Leopold added another basket before the half to take a 33-15 lead into the break.

The Pirates turned up the heat defensively in the second quarter.

"Obviously our offense wasn't working to our potential," Elfrink said. "So we knew we had to pick it up defensively and contain and try and create some turnovers."

Leopold had no such struggles in the second half.

The Wildcats opened the third quarter with a 16-3 run to stretch the lead to 49-18.

"Coach went over what we needed to work on coming out of half," Leopold senior Kyle Stroder said. "And we knew we had to have a good second half to finish the game."

Leopold used a balance offensive attack, with four players ending in double figures.

Brandon Jansen led all scorers with 16 points, while Ethan Broshius added 12. Stroder and Cameron Davis each added 11.

"It is pretty nice," Elfrink said about the balanced scoring. "That way it takes a little pressure off everybody, knowing there is multiple guys that can score and make some buckets."

Beck, in his second year as coach, admitted the offense is running much smoother than his first season.

"It's a lot better," Beck said. "We put in a few new things this year, but nothing like we had to put in last year. Last year was all from scratch -- it was my first year. This year they know what the goals are. They know what to expect on offense and defense."

Colin Schirmer led Perryville in scoring with 10 points.

Perryville 7 8 8 7 -- 30

Leopold 20 13 22 11 -- 66

PERRYVILLE (30) -- Luke Schlichting 7, Garrett Martin 2, Trenton Green 6, Brett Schnurbusch 3, Colin Schirmer 10, Jacob Lawrence 3. FG 12, FT 4-9, F 17. (3-pointers: Schlichting 1, Schnurbusch 1. Fouled out: none)

LEOPOLD (66) -- DJ Keim 4, Kyle Stroder 11, Joe Elfrink 8, Andrew McWilliams 1, Cameron Davis 11, Ethan Broshius 12, Brandon Jansen 16, James Jansen 3. FG 28, FT 6-18, F 10. (3-pointers: Stroder 1, Elfrink 1, Broshuis 2. Fouled out: none)

Meadow Heights 57 Delta 48

Josh Douglas poured in a game-high 33 points to lead Meadow Heights to victory in the consolation semifinals.

Tanner Schabbing scored 20 points, while Dwight Nance added 16 for Delta.

Meadow Heights will play Woodland in tonight's consolation final at 5 p.m.

Meadow Hts 15 20 6 16 -- 57

Delta 10 10 10 18 -- 48

MEADOW HEIGHTS (57) -- Josh Douglas 33, Chris Bollinger 2, Jacob Douglas 8, Ryan Flotz 8, Tyler Cook 3, Kyle Baremore 3. FG 17, FT 19-26, F 16. (3-pointers: Jo. Douglas 3, Ja. Douglas 1. Fouled out: none)

DELTA (48) -- Trevor Glaus 2, Tanner Schabbing 20, Dwight Nance 16, Alex Lashley 6, Austin White 4. FG 21, FT 6-11, F 19. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: Glaus, Schabbing)