ST. JAMES — Handily defeating St. Clair 60-11 two nights earlier, Taylor Payne Owensville seventh-grade Dutchmen basketball team looked to extend their season-opening win streak to six games last Wednesday during matinee hoops action at St. James Middle School against the host Tigers.

Opening the game on a 6-0 run, Owensville never trailed throughout the contest before going on to post a 30-14 victory in Phelps County.

Scoreless over the first three minutes of the game, Brody Slinkard broke the scoreless tie with a bucket on an assist from Wyatt Lewis giving the seventh-grade Dutchmen an early 2-0 lead.

A pair of Chase Crosby buckets over a span of :25 helped Owensville to a 6-2 lead over St. James after six minutes of basketball.

Brady Watson and Keigan Glaser scored in the first minute and change of the second quarter giving the Dutchmen a 10-4 lead with 4:44 until halftime.

Leading 10-6 at the 4:20 mark of the second quarter, a Watson free throw and a Slinkard basket late in the first half gave Owensville a 13-6 halftime lead.

Slinkard and Crosby led the Dutchmen with four first-half points apiece.

Adding to his first-quarter assist, Lewis scored Owensville’s first four points of the second half sparking another 6-0 run to open the third quarter.

Limiting St. James to a basket at the 2:00 mark of the third quarter, Payne’s Dutchmen entered the fourth quarter with a 21-8 lead.

In similar fashion to the first and third quarters, Owensville opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.

Slinkard led the Dutchmen and all scorers with a game-high eight points. He also pulled down five rebounds and had Owensville’s lone blocked shot of the game.

Crosby followed with six points and added three steals.

Watson added five points to go along with a game-high five steals.

Lewis and Glaser both kicked in four points with Glaser pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

Brock Heidbrink rounded out the scoring for the now 6-0 seventh-grade Dutchmen with three points.

8th grade at St. James

Tied at 2-2 in the opening seconds of the game, Shane Hunt’s eighth-grade Dutchmen saw St. James outscore them 28-4 the rest of the first quarter.

Unable to overcome St. James’ offensive firepower, Owensville dropped the eighth-grade game by a score of 56-21.

Chase Weirich, Chris Allen and Corbyn Hamann each scored two points for the Dutchmen in the first quarter.

Adam Wilson accounted for five of Owensville’s second-quarter points helping him lead the orange and black in the first half.

Held to seven second-half points, Owensville nearly had a player finish with a double double.

Wilson and Allen both led the eighth-grade Dutchmen with eight points while Allen pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Wilson was close behind with seven boards.

Weirich finished with three points while Hamann rounded out the Dutchmen scoring against St. James with two points.

OMS will open 2022 on Wednesday, Jan. 5 hosting Pacific at OES.