Victories.

That is what Cullen VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchmen are after in 2021.

Falling 54-49 in their 32nd Owensville Tournament opener to Steelville earlier in the week, OHS got another shot at the win column Saturday in the consolation championship game at Owensville High School.

Facing St. Clair’s Bulldogs for the second time this season, the Dutchmen looked for their second win over their Four Rivers Conference (FRC) foes on the season.

Nursing a 26-22 halftime lead, Owensville outscored the Bulldogs 37-14 in the second half going on to post a 63-36 victory keeping the consolation hardware and medals in town.

“It was nice to get the win on our home floor,” VanLeer said. “Even though it was a common opponent, we beat them by seven last time and to beat them by 27 this time shows that we’re continuing to make strides forward.”

Down 8-3 at the 3:30 mark of the first quarter, a Bryce Payne 3-pointer sparked a 10-3 capped by a Derek Brandt 3-pointer giving Owensville a 13-11 lead after eight minutes of basketball.

Second-quarter action was back and forth for both teams.

Two ties and six lead changes later, VanLeer’s Dutchmen needed a 5-0 run to close the second quarter giving them a 26-22 halftime lead.

Brandt and St. Clair’s Chase Walters led their respective teams with seven first-half points.

Opening the third quarter on a 9-2 run, Owensville suddenly saw their lead balloon into double digits at 35-24 with 5:00 for the quarter.

Leading 35-28 a minute later, the Dutchmen went on another run to close the third period.

Started by another Brandt 3-pointer, OHS ended the third quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 46-30 lead into the fourth quarter.

Holding St. Clair to six points over the final eight minutes, Owensville added 17 points to their total before the final buzzer sounded.

Nailing three 3-pointers in the second half, Brandt led the Dutchmen and all scorers with a game-high 18 points.

Zaid Epstein also hit double figures finishing with 11 points in addition to dishing out a team-high four assists.

“Zaid and Derek played their best games of the tournament today,” VanLeer said. “We took care of the ball much better today.”

Brendan Decker just missed double figures finishing with nine points.

Heidbrink just missed his second double double of the tournament finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Logan Evans and Landon Valley each added six points for the victorious Dutchmen.

Payne rounded out the Owensville scoring with five points while also recording a team-high three blocked shots.

Walters led St. Clair with a team-high nine points.

Third-place action was next from the Owensville Tournament Saturday between the Pacific Indians and Steelville Cardinals.

Surviving a second-half comeback attempt by the Cardinals, Pacific held off Steelville by a final score of 54-46 to claim third-place hardware from the 32nd Owensville Tournament.

Trailing Pacific 20-6 after one quarter, Steelville closed the gap to 31-23 at halftime before doubling up the Indians 14-7 in the third quarter to pull within a point at 38-37 going into the fourth period.

Pacific outscored the Cardinals 16-9 over the final eight minutes to secure third place.

Don’Ta Harris led the Indians with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. He also had two assists, two blocked shots and a steal.

Gavin Racer also reached double figures for Pacific finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Landon Mabe led Steelville and all scorers with a game-high 18 points.

Chase Cottrell just missed a double double for the Cardinals finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds.

In fitting fashion, the championship game between Fatima and Jefferson City came down to the final seconds.

Parker Gourley hit a shot with .8 seconds left breaking a 53-53 tie giving the Jefferson City Jays the championship of the 32nd Owensville Tournament by a score of 55-53 over the Fatima Comets.

Michael Onunkwor led Jefferson City with 15 points followed by 13 points from Sterling DeSha. Both Jays were named to the All-Tournament Team.

DeSha ended up leading the tournament in scoring with 58 points in his three games.

Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) Lee Verslues led Fatima and all scorers with 19 points.

Nate Brandt (11) and Nate Lehmen (10) also reached double figures in scoring for the Comets.