Yesterday was a mixed bag for Ladue basketball teams. While the girls won the Ritenour Christmas tournament defeating the 8-0 host Huskies, the boys surrendered a 33-28 third quarter lead and lost to Duchesne of St. Charles, 50-43 in the semifinals of the MICDS Holiday Invitational. Chad Anderson’s Rams were outscored 22-10 in the final stanza.
The coach was more than a little disappointed. “Yea, we were stagnant on offense. I don’t think it was for a lack of effort. You hold a team to 50 points, mostly you will win those games.”
Anderson never minded his team was seeded No. 1 in the 16 team field.
“For our school, that was the first time ever and we just fell short.”
Ladue had a good third quarter, outscoring the Pioneers 17-10. But they got into more than a little foul trouble.
Six-foot-nine senior Austin DaGue picked up two personals in the space of less than 10 seconds and fouled out of the game at the 3:36 mark with just 5 points in the semifinal loss.
“I think a couple of fouls were cheap fouls, but I don’t think that was the reason why we lost. We just didn’t do what we needed to do down the stretch,” said Anderson.
Ladue was hoping to have 10 wins by New Years, and a title in the MICDS tournament would have made it nine. The record stands 7-3 going into the mini break. Duchesne is undefeated in six outings.
Ladue was strongest from the perimeter and Duchesne sizzled inside the lane. In the previous game, Duchesne racked up 70 points against Lutheran North; none coming on 3 pointers.
Duchesne’s Ryan Tone muscled his way inside for 15 points to lead all scorers; Drew Moore had 14 and Same Briscoe had 12.
Ladue’s top scorer was sophomore Jeremy Loftin with 13 and Cornell Johnson finished with 11.
Duchesne showed clutch free throw shooting down the home stretch. Briscoe nailed two free throws with 35.2 seconds remaining in the game and Ryan Tone added two free throws with seconds remaining.
Anderson is looking ahead to January and February. “You want to be playing your best come February and March. We need to come back tomorrow, turn the page and get a win (in the third place game against the loser of SLUH-Westminster Christian Academy). That game will be played at 4:30 p.m. today.
