Credited to: Lonnel Cole,Argus Sports
The St Mary’s High Dragons are no longer the answer to a long-running Missouri high school basketball trivia question: What was the last team to beat the Vashon Wolverines in a playoff game? Until last Friday afternoon, it had been St. Mary’s with an 83-70 victory over the Wolverines in the sectionals on March 6, 2018. Move over, St. Mary’s you’ve got company. The Logan-Rogersville Wildcats, 20 miles from Springfield, Mo. dethroned the defending five-time Missouri Class 4 boys basketball champions with a convincing 74-60 romp in the state semifinals last Friday afternoon at Mizzou Arena. Logan-Rogersville went on to capture the Class 4 title in even more convincing fashion by overwhelming Clayton 72-36 in the title game.
But in eliminating Vashon, the Wildcats definitely brought their A-game, by shooting a scorching 73.5 from the floor, which was a new all-time, state tournament record. They were also as physical team as state opponent could expect to encounter., in jumping out to a commanding 23-12 cushion after the first quarter and never trailing. Vashon had cut the lead to 54-46 going into the fourth period before the Wildcats pulled away for good.
Junior Chase Branham, who has already committed to the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten, had a game-high 31 points for the winning Wildcats, to offset Vashon’s Jimmy McKinney III who had a team-high 27 points. McKinney, who’s also a junior, would finish out the season by scoring 35 points in Vashon’s 84-81 overtime loss to St Joseph Benton in the third-place consolation game last Saturday. Ironically, Vashon had beaten Benton in the title game last year. But this year, Logan-Rogersville ruled in Class 4 with force.
“Our program at LR has always relied on a physical and defensive style of play,” Wildcats coach John Schaefer commented to the Argus on Tuesday afternoon, long after the title conquest and celebrations. “We knew that Vashon was going to be a tough physical team as well and we just wanted to match their effort in terms of intensity and physicality Vashon is a (top) caliber program that plays nationally-ranked schools yearly. They have been the standard for elite basketball in Missouri for numerous years. I thought we had a great start and played at a really high level with skill and control on both ends of the court. We stretched the score (the lead) to as much as 17, I believe, but Vashon wouldn’t go away. It was a battle up until the last minutes of the game.”
Left to right, top to bottom
Vashon’s Jimmy McKinney (0 in dark jersey) tries to get around the smothering Wildcats defense, while teammate Khalil Crain (3 in dark jersey) has a little more room to move in these sequence. McKinney finds much more space outside to launch two of his 27 points. (Second row, left to right) Coach Jimmy McKinney Jr looks on, Cain McCaskill (5) shoots from deep outside and Leon Powell Jr. (2 with ball) finds it tough to get inside the Wildcats tough defense. Photos by Brian McDonald
