With just about half of the regular season under way for area teams, 2011 will bring some interesting matchups and will begin the heart of the conference season. The next few months will be telling for MICDS (4-5), Ladue (4-4) and John Burroughs (3-5) as the teams try to work out some kinks and get prepared for district play in late February.
All of the area teams competed in recent holiday tournaments as MICDS and Ladue did battle in the MICDS Holiday Tournament and John Burroughs played in the Chaminade Tournament. Each team had decent showing in their respective tournaments with MICDS and Ladue advancing to the winner's bracket in their tourney while Burroughs fought their way to a consolation championship in their bracket.
MICDS hoped to make a splash as they hosted the tournament. After a great showing in their opening round game against Trinity, the Rams hoped to have a better fate against Clayton. MICDS lost 82-72 in the quarterfinals to the Greyhounds. The Rams then fell to Lutheran North to end their run in the tournament. It was the second loss of the season to Clayton and head coach Matt Hixenbaugh thinks that the two losses against Clayton could help them down the road when they will most likely see the Greyhounds in district play.
"Our guys are familiar with Clayton, we'd love to have a chance to play them again in districts," Hixenbaugh said. " You never know how the rest of the season is going to shake out, but we are going to keep working hard everyday to get better and if we get a chance to play them again hopefully we will be able to make a few more plays," he said.
Ladue came within seconds of beating the eventual tournament winners Parkway South and earning a spot in the semifinals of the MICDS tournament. After getting by Duchesne in the opener, Ladue led for most of the game with Parkway South and just came up short 49-48. The Rams then fell to Whitfield, losing again by just one point, 54-53. Ladue had the toughest path in the tournament facing both the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in their final two games.
"Learn from it, keep your head up, and learn to finish games," Ladue coach Chad Anderson said.
Burroughs has to feel the best coming out of their tournament. After a tough loss to previously unbeaten Bayless in the first round of the Chaminade Tournament, the Bombers bounced back to turn some heads by the time the tournament ended. After a win over Mehlville, Burroughs defeated Parkway Central 76-70 to capture the consolation championship. Senior Grant Wallace led the Bombers with 35 points in the win, and is among the area leaders in scoring averaging 22.1 points per game.
The next week will be busy for all three teams is the get themselves out of tournament mode and get set for some conference matchups in the near future. Here is a look at this week's schedule for the squads….
Tuesday January 4 John Burroughs @ Trinity, 6:30 p.m.,
MICDS @ Lutheran South, 7 p.m.
Wednesday January 5 Ladue vs. Whitfield, 7 p.m.
Thursday January 6 MICDS @ Chaminade, 7 p.m.
Friday January 7 John Burroughs vs. Crossroads, 6:30 p.m.,
