Johnston Outplays Glotta In Battle Of Top Point Guards To Lead Ladue Past Ft. Zumwalt North In Semifinals Of CBC Tournament

TOWN AND COUNTRY -- Back when the 2012-2013 area boys basketball schedule was announced, one of the most intriguing matchups on the slate was a showcase game at the Terrell Ramey/Midwest Showdown Shootout that would pit two of the area's best point guards against one another with Ladue's Cornell Johnston going up against Ft. Zumwalt North's Chaz Glotta.

Johnston, the Rams' pass-happy junior who leads the area in assists (8.9 apg), was supposed to face perhaps his toughest individual matchup of the season going up against Glotta, Zumwalt North's junior shot machine, who leads the area in scoring (25.8 ppg).

At the last minute though, the Ramey Shootout folks made a change and Zumwalt North wound up playing Riverview Gardens and Ladue played Illinois power Chatham Glenwood, costing area fans the chance to see Johnston face off against Glotta.

On Wednesday night though, fans paying close attention to an ever-changing tournament schedule got to finally see the Johnston-Glotta showdown, as Ladue took on Zumwalt North in the semifinals of the DC Wilcutt Tournament at CBC High.

And as it turned out, Round 1 of the battle for the unofficial title of area's best point guard went to Ladue's Johnston, who scored a game-high 20 points, dished out 11 assists, and held Glotta to less than half his usual scoring average, in a 65-50 Rams win over the Panthers.

"I thought we played really well," Ladue head coach Chad Anderson said. "We really defended them well in that third quarter, and really the whole game I thought, except for a little bit at the end of the second quarter.

"And Cornell's just so tough. He likes being challenged, and tonight was a tough challenge for him. But he always rises to the occasion."

Johnston certainly did that on Wednesday, as he not only led Ladue in points, assists, steals, and minutes played, but he also was the primary defender on Glotta (who scored just 12 points) and forced the high-scoring Zumwalt North junior to foul out early in the fourth quarter.

"Don't tell him (he's the smallest player on the floor)," Anderson said. "He thinks he can defend anybody. He really looks at it as a challenge to try and lock down guys that can score like Glotta can."

A third junior, 6'7 forward Andrew Maddock also had a big night, with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Rams, while senior Austin DaGue added eight points (all in the second half), along with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.

With Chaz Glotta in foul trouble by early in the third quarter, and out of the game by early in the fourth, sophomores Kris McCann and Zach Glotta took on the role of leading the Zumwalt North offense.

McCann led the Panthers (8-3) with 13 points, and Zach Glotta added 11 points.

Ladue, which is now 11-3 on the season and ranked No. 7 among area Large School boys teams, will now face No. 2-ranked CBC in the championship game of the DC Wilcutt Tournament, Friday night at CBC's Wilcutt Gymnasium.

Tip-off for that matchup is set for 8 p.m., and will follow Zumwalt North's appearance in the tournament third-place game against Clayton High at 6:30 p.m. 

SCORING SUMMARY

Score by Quarters ........... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 -- Final Score

Ladue ............................. 22 .. 8 .. 16 . 19 -- 65

Ft. Zumwalt North ......... 17 . 12 .. 5 . 16 -- 50

Individual Scorers

Ladue -- Cornell Johnston 20, Andrew Maddock 17, Connor Spirtas 9, Austin DaGue 8, Jeremy Loftin 8, Jon Collins 3.

Ft. Zumwalt North -- Kris McCann 13, Chaz Glotta 12, Zach Glotta 11, Greg Thirdkill 8, Blake Buls 5, Tyler Hill 1.

FINAL DAY SCHEDULE AT DC WILCUTT TOURNAMENT

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013

SEVENTH PLACE GAME

St. Charles West  vs.  Ft. Zumwalt West  --  3:30 pm

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Whitfield  vs.  Lutheran North  --  5 pm

THIRD-PLACE GAME

Ft. Zumwalt North  vs.  Clayton  --  6:30 pm

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Ladue  vs.  CBC  --  8 pm