CUBA — Opening the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 3 Boys Basketball Tournament last Tuesday night at Cuba High School with a 52-35 victory over Sullivan’s Eagles, Cullen VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchmen earned another shot at St. James’ Tigers last Thursday night in the district semifinals.

Falling in Four Rivers Conference (FRC) action at St. James 58-39 during the second week of February, the orange and black looked to avenge that loss and book passage to Saturday afternoon’s district championship game.

Trailing 15-7 after one quarter, Owensville could not overcome a 16-3 second-quarter run by the Tigers before eventually seeing their season end at 11-14 following a 56-29 loss to the eventual district champions.

“We played a good first quarter and we just could not get shots to fall in the second quarter,” VanLeer said. “St. James is a very good basketball team and we just weren’t able to execute on offense while their defense forced us into multiple turnovers.”

Helping keep the Dutchmen within single digits of the Tigers after one quarter were Chase Crosby with three points followed by two points apiece from Brady Watson and Keigan Glaser.

Losing Glaser to foul trouble throughout the second quarter, a Chase Weirich 3-pointer turned out to be the lone scoring for the Dutchmen as they went into halftime trailing 31-10.

Outscored 17-11 to open the second half in the third quarter, Owensville entered the fourth quarter trailing St. James 48-21.

Glaser showed the way in the third quarter with four points for OHS while Watson and Crosby each added three points.

Both teams played the fourth quarter to an 8-8 tie with St. James moving on to eventually defeat St. Clair Saturday afternoon for the district title.

Glaser showed the way for the Dutchmen with 10 points, two steals and two assists while Crosby added eight points and two rebounds.

Watson followed with five points and nine rebounds while Henry Womack and Weirich each added three points.

Womack scored his three points when he banked in a 3-pointer in the final minute of action against St. James.

Other Dutchmen on the bench last Thursday night included Charlie Katsov, Wyatt Lewis, Kylen Menz, Adam Wilson, Cohen Dare, Bryce Kramme, Drew Chapman, Logan Valley, Broden Kelley and Koen Brooks.

Dutchmen vs. Sullivan

Posting a 53-47 come-from-behind victory back on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Sullivan, VanLeer’s Dutchmen faced off once again against the Eagles in the first round of the MSHSAA Class 4, District 3 Boys Basketball Tournament last Tuesday night at Cuba High School.

Trailing 13-10 after one quarter, Owensville outscored Sullivan 14-3 in the second quarter helping them to a 24-16 halftime lead.

Doubling up the Eagles 14-7 in the third quarter, the orange and black took a 38-23 lead into the final eight minutes before going on to a 52-35 victory marking their second victory over Sullivan in the span of a week.

“We came out a little flat in the first quarter but our shots started falling in the second quarter and we were able to take it from there,” VanLeer said. “Our defense also picked up as we were able to hold them to 10 points over two quarters while we were able to get a double-digit lead on them.”

During Owensville’s 10-point first quarter, Watson netted six markers while Lewis and Crosby both had two points.

Crosby added seven second-quarter points giving him nine for the first half while Weirich hit a second-quarter 3-pointer to go along with buckets from Wilson and Glaser.

Duplicating their second-quarter point total with 14 more points in the third quarter, Watson took over the scoring slack with seven third-quarter points followed by five from Glaser and two from Crosby.

Scoring eight of Owensville’s 14 fourth-quarter points, Watson called blackjack completing a game-high double double of 21 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Crosby also ended up in double figures with 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Glaser nearly posted a double double of his own finishing with seven points, six assists and four steals.

Weirich added four points to go along with the trio of Kramme, Lewis and Wilson with two points each.

Wilson and Lewis each also pulled down four rebounds.