Ladue vs Hazelwood Central Preview

The Ladue Rams and the Hazelwood Central Hawks have lived up to their seeds and have made it the finals of the Vianney Invitational. Both teams want this one badly. 

Ladue made it to this point last year and nearly had it, but lost by 1 point to Nick Van Osdale and the Belleville West Maroons. This time around they may as well be up against a more daunting opponent.

Hazelwood Central has been an elite St. Louis high school basketball program for years and it seems as though it is business as usual for them this season. They already have been seeded number one for the Meramac Holiday Festival.

Teams always play hard early in the year not only to get wins for the playoffs, but to get a good place in their holiday tournament. That is something Ladue strives for and certainly a win against the Hawks tonight would enhance their chances of a good seed immensely for the MICDS Holiday Tournament, which they were seeded number one last year and are trying to make sure to keep it that way this year.

This is most likely the biggest week before the holidays Ladue has had in a very long time in terms of importance and level of competition. The Rams have Hazelwood Central tonight, then undefeated McClure North for our home opener tomorrow night, and will travel to Springfield, MO on Saturday to play Glendale High School in the Ozark Mountain Shootout.

However that is for the near future. Tonight is a clash of area titans at Vianney. STL High School Sports has Ladue ranked as the eighth best large school team in the metro area with Hazelwood Central two spots ahead of them at number six. Both teams have size and good guard play.

Central have beaten Clayton 65-47, in a game which they out rebounded them 41-29 and had eighteen offensive rebounds. They then got revenge over Belleville West running away with a 70-40 score. The Hawks out rebounded West 35-24 and did not allow a single player to score in double digits. They forced 17 turnovers and ten of them were steals.

Obviously Central's main strength is crashing the boards, but Clayton and West do not have a lot of bigs. Ladue does with Andrew Maddock at 6'7, Jon Collins at 6'4, Jeremy Loftin at 6'3, and Nahom Assefa at 6'3 as well. Those four players are the leading rebounders for the Rams. Playing Vianney helped a lot to prepare for Central since the Golden Griffins have a tall roster.

Hazelwood Central does have visible weaknesses so far. As a team they are shooting 14-27 (51.8%) from the free throw line. Ladue is 40-58, (68.5%) which isn't pretty, but the two guards Cornell Johnston and Connor Spirtas are shooting 9-11 (81.8%) and 12-14 (85.7%) respectively. That can prove vital down the stretch because the Rams have shown already they can make free throws in pressure situations.

Both teams have struggled from behind the arch thus far. Ladue is 9-33 (27%) and Central are 11-44. (25%) However both teams kicked it up a notch. Ladue was 6-15, while Central went 8-19 in the semi final games. The Rams have more fire power shooting it with Johnston, Spirtas, Mark Rogers, Loftin, Jordan and Jerrid Cosby as well can shoot it well. Maddock has proven in a big way that he can light it up as well, but has yet to have attempted a shot.

Ladue will need him down low because that is where Central has taken advantage of their opponents so far. The have 17 blocked shots already and almost half of them have come from 6'7, 220 pound Junior, Marcus George. Because of him and a couple of other bigs, the Rams will most likely resort to 3 pointers or jump shots. However, Jeremy Loftin has proven that he got drive to the rock and score using all of his 6'3 frame.

Overall the Rams and the Hawks seem to be pretty even adding up each others advantages and disadvantages.

Lastly, a thing Ladue might have an advantage on is the crowd. Last year the Ladue students came and made it feel like a home game for the Rams. This year I would expect it to be the same. Plus Hazelwood Central hasn't had much fan support in their two games, but their bench is pretty loud and supportive compared a lot of other teams.

This game will most likely get some additional press because these are 2 great teams pitting themselves against each other. Fruit for thought.