Hickman Knocks Out Blue Jays in District

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Hickman proved to be a bit too much for Washington to handle Monday night in the opening round of the Class 5 District 9 Basketball Tournament at Jefferson City High School.

The fifth-seeded Kewpies (8-14) used their strength, speed and athleticism to defeat the fourth-seeded Blue Jays, 73-50.

“That’s the style that’s bothered us all year, kind of the uptempo style, the in-your-face defense,” said Washington Head Coach Chip Sodemann. “We turned it over and we had trouble keeping the basketball out of the paint. That’s what got us tonight. Their guys were able to get in the lane and crash the offensive rebounds. It made for a long night.”

Hickman lost to top-seeded Rock Bridge in the semifinals Tuesday night, 60-46. Rock Bridge meets Jefferson City in the title game Friday at 6 p.m.

Washington (12-12) trailed Hickman throughout the contest, including 12-9 after one quarter, 30-20 at halftime and 48-30 after three quarters.

Trailing 48-28 late in the third quarter, Washington went on a 9-0 run to make the score 48-37 early in the fourth period, but got no closer.

Luke Schroepfer led the Blue Jays in the contest with 20 points.

“Luke is one of those guys who didn’t want the season to end because he kept getting better and better as the season went on,” Sodemann said. “He was our go-to guy down the stretch. Hopefully he can pick up next year where he left off this year.”

Ronnie Suggs finished the game with eight points.

Jordan Stapp added six points. Stapp recently became the school’s all-time leader in career three-pointers made. He holds the school record in career three-pointers, single-season three-pointers and single-game three-pointers.

Jared Walde netted five points. Nathan Monzyk and Zack Omer both scored three points. Matt McCarthy and Daniel Cross both scored two points. Tyler Schrader had one point.

“This is a tough district.  We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Sodemann said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us next year and then I don’t know what will happen after that. We may get stuck here again.”

The loss marked the final game at WHS for seniors Max Bigford, Michael Luechtefeld, Chris Borgerding, Stapp, McCarthy, Monzyk, Cross and Omer.

 “These seniors and this group of guys will always have a special place in my heart because they were my first team. I think all coaches have a memory about their first team,” Sodemann said. “I appreciate them and their willingness to buy in to what I was telling them and for giving me all they had.”

The future looks promising for the Blue Jays.

“We’re definitely excited for the future between Luke, Ronnie, Jared and how our JV ended up finishing the year,” Sodemann said.

Warrenton

Washington ended its regular season last Friday with a 70-47 win at Warrenton (5-18).

“We hit some shots early and I think our press bothered them a little,” Sodemann said. “They turned the ball over a few times. It was nice to get a win going into districts.”

The Blue Jays jumped to an 11-2 lead and never looked back, holding the advantage throughout the contest.

“We got down early. You can’t dig yourself a hole in the GAC. You just can’t do it,” said Warrenton Head Coach Shannon Jeffrey. “They shot 28 or 29 free throws and made a lot of them. They scored around 18 points on free throws in the first half. A lot of those came on rebounds where we didn’t block out and they put it back up and got fouled.”

Washington was 19-28 from the free-throw line.

A total of 13 Blue Jays got in the game.

Leading the way was Monzyk, who finished the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He was 7-9 from the free-throw line.

Walde added 11 points and four rebounds.

Schrader had 10 points and three rebounds.

Schroepfer collected nine points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Stapp finished with eight points, 10 assists, four rebounds and four steals.

McCarthy chipped in with six points and four rebounds. Cross netted five points. Scott Lewis added four points and three rebounds. Omer and Suggs both scored two points. Suggs added two assists and two steals.

Alan Wunderlich, Borgerding and Luechtefeld and also played.

“It’s always good to get a lot of kids in the game, especially in the last game,” Sodemann said. “It was their senior night and their guys were probably riding high on emotions. We were able to rebound the ball pretty well on their missed shots.”

Washington held leads of 14-7 after one quarter, 41-21 at halftime and 54-33 after three quarters.

“We gave up way too many offensive rebounds. I imagine No. 55 (Walde), No. 53 (Monzyk) and No. 51 (Lewis) probably had 30 rebounds between them,” Jeffrey said. “You can’t do that. I know they were bigger than us, but you can’t give up that many offensive rebounds.”

Washington finished 2-4 in the GAC North. The St. Charles game postponed earlier in the season due to weather will not be played.