By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
No. 1-ranked, once-beaten St. Charles West is the hurdle today for the Webb City boys in a semifinal of the Missouri Class 4 Tournament at Columbia.
Tipoff between the third-ranked Cardinals (25-4) and Warriors (29-1) is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Mizzou Arena.
Webb City has won 17 straight games since losing 48-43 to Carl Junction for third place on Jan. 5 in the Joplin Freeman Sports Medicine/Kaminsky Classic.
St. Charles West has a 25-game winning streak. It hasn’t lost since dropping a 66-62 decision to Fort Zumwalt South on Dec. 7.
Today’s 12:20 p.m. semifinal in Class 4 is fourth-ranked Cape Girardeau Notre Dame (22-6) vs. Kansas City Lincoln Prep (21-8).
Kansas City Ruskin, which lost 42-40 to Lincoln Prep in a quarterfinal last Saturday, defeated Notre Dame 59-56 for the championship last season.
The title game is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Third place will be decided at 10:40 a.m.
Its ability to execute might be the No. 1 attribute for St. Charles West, Webb City coach Eric Johnson said.
“It’s a well-drilled ballclub of basketball kids,” Johnson said. “They don’t make many mistakes (the Warriors are averaging about nine turnovers according to their coach Terry Hollander with games of five or fewer).
“They can be patient on offense but they don’t mind running the floor,” Johnson said.
“They basically start three guards and they are very good shooters,” Johnson said. “(Kramer) Soderberg (averaging more than 25 points) is their go-to player. He does everything.
“We should have a slight size advantage,” Johnson said. “We’re similar in athleticism.”
Hollander, whose 1994 team ousted Joplin in a Class 4A quarterfinal, is in his 28th season with the Warriors.
“We’re very impressed with Webb City,” Hollander said. “They are physical. They are very athletic with good size. They’re playing with confidence.”
Probable starters for St. Charles West are 5-foot-11 senior Soderberg, 5-10 senior Brian Mauer, 6-0 junior Alex Bazzell, 6-4 junior Danny Crenshaw and 6-6 senior Alex Whiteside.
“We handle the ball well and we can shoot it (averaging more than 65 points),” Hollander said.
Brian Grote, a 6-6 junior, delivered 13 rebounds and six blocked shots in the Warriors’ 48-36 quarterfinal win against second-ranked Berkeley.
Johnson plans to counter with the usual alignment of 6-3 senior Landon Zerkel, 6-2 senior Chance Sossamon, 6-4 junior Trey Laveroni, 6-1 senior Alan Pink and 6-5 senior Caleb Powell.
Patrick Drake, a 6-1 sophomore, has been the Cardinals’ first reserve and has starting experience.
Scoring leaders for the Cardinals include 14.6 for Pink, 12.3 for Zerkel, 10.7 for Powell, 10 for Laveroni, 9.9 for Sossamon and 4.2 for Drake.
Pink, a 58.5 percent marksman from the field, and Powell (60 percent) are averaging 7.6 and 5.7 rebounds, respectively. Zerkel is adding 5.7 boards, 5;4 assists and 4.4 steals. Laveroni is shooting 70 percent from the foul line and adding 3.7 assists.
St. Charles West is shooting 76 percent from the foul line compared to the Cardinals’ 64.
“We need to play better than we did against Clinton (a 65-56 quarterfinal decision),” Johnson said. “Our kids have a tendency to improve their performance against stronger competition. We expect that to continue.”
Notes: Completing the Webb City roster of 12 are 6-1 senior Justin Boudreaux, 6-7 junior Parker Graham, 5-9 junior Andrew Maier, 6-3 junior Austin Lepper, 6-2 freshman Phillip Donna and 5-10 freshman Scott Roderique. ... Dusty Allen and Ryan Odaffer will be joined by Jeremy Butler in assisting Johnson. ... Lincoln Prep was 0-3 in the Webb City Classic on Jan. 17-19. Webster Groves (27-3), in the Class 5 semifinals, won the Kaminsky event held at Missouri Southern.
Sports
Cards to battle No. 1 St. Charles West today
Webb City, Warriors clash in Class 4 state semifinals
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