63rd Annual St. Francois County Rotary Shootout Showcases Great Area Basketball
(Park Hills) The 63rd Annual St. Francois Rotary Shootout began with a blowout when the Leopold boys beat St. Paul 61-28. The first quarter ended with Leopold holding a 24-6 lead over the Giants of St. Paul.
Wildcat senior Caleb Schaab was the Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the Game with 21 points. Senior Mason Deck added 13 points but did much more outside of the box score. Leopold coach Gary Poyner says the two gel together quite well.
Leopold improves to 6-1 while St. Paul drops to 2-8.
Full Interview with Leopold Coach Gary Poyner:
——————————————————————————————
In our second game, the Potosi Trojans were able to hold off a late West County comeback winning 44-33. Potosi got out to an early thanks to a hot start to sophomore Gabe Brawley.
The story of the game though was that the Bulldogs couldn’t convert when they needed it, and Potosi would capitalize.
Gabe Brawley was the Applebees of Farmington Player of the Game with 10 points for Potosi, the Trojans improve to 4-3 while West County falls to 5-5.
The only girls game of the day was third in line and had South Iron take down Miller Career Academy 55-36. Lady Panthers junior Maddie Ayers had a nice and-1 in the first quarter.
The Lady Panthers lead by one after the first eight minutes but expanded their lead to 11 going into halftime. The third quarter ended with a buzzer beater from sophomore Enzley Dinkins.
Dinkins was the Applebee’s of Farmington Player of the game with 21 points. The pick and roll was working well for #3 in Class 1 South Iron this game. Head coach Lawrence Graves says he has the players to utilize it.
The Lady Panthers remain undefeated at 5-0. Miller Career Academy drops to 2-4.
Full Interview with South Iron Coach Lawrence Graves:
—————————————————————————————————-
The South Iron boys would then take the court and follow up with their own dominant performance over St. Pius 78-47. It was actually the Lancers that took the fight to the Panthers first with Sophomore Patrick Flannigan nailing some big-time threes.
Then South Iron started to expand their range.
Dinkins was the Applebees of Farmington Player of the Game with 29 points and a plethora of highlight material. South Iron stays undefeated at 5-0 while St. Pius falls to 4-3.
The fifth game of the day came down to the final shot but it was Farmington who pulled away over Fox by a score of 51-49.
The first half was marred by fouls and turnovers as the Knights took a seven point lead into the half. Fox senior Brendan Moss scored 13 of his game-leading 27 points in the third quarter to give the Warriors a one point advantage heading into the fourth.
Farmington senior J.P. Ruble picked up a tough bucket late to give the Knights the lead.
But Fox sophomore Cayden Keisker answered with a big shot.
Farmington senior Bracey Blanton went to the foul line with less than two seconds to go and a two point lead over Fox. Bracey missed both and a halfcourt heave from Fox was off the mark to give Farmington the win.
Knights head coach Garrett Callahan didn’t think it was his teams’ best performance but he was proud that his kids were able to pull out a win.
Farmington improves to 4-2. Fox drops to 2-6.
Full Interview with Farmington Coach Garrett Callahan:
———————————————————————–
Our final matchup in the evening saw Gateway Legacy get their revenge against North County, defeating the Raiders 48-37. The Raider had no answer for the size, length, and athleticism of the Lions.
While North County struggled to match up with Gateway, they still fought until the very end. Getting big contributions from Layne Wigger.
North County continues to struggle in the early going this season and falls to 3-4. Gateway improves to 8-9. High School Basketball will return to J98 for the Central Christmas Tournament in Park Hills from December 26th through the 31st.
