Photo by Gordon Radford
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Vashon forwards Kennard Davis Jr. and Cameron Stovall rarely face a team taller the Wolverines.
But with a massive Tolton Catholic front line guarding the rim, Davis and Stovall decided to join forces.
“We’re two of the most physical players on the team and we’re always going at it in practice,” Davis said. “We love to compete.”
Davis scored 20, Stovall added 11 and the two combined on the decisive dunk to lead Vashon to a 49-45 victory over Father Tolton in a Class 4 semifinal at the Show-Me-Showdown at Missouri State University.
Vashon (23-7), which advanced to its sixth state title game in the last eight seasons, will play Park Hills Central (28-3) in the Class 4 championship game at 2 p.m. Friday at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.
Park Hills Central defeated Lafayette-St. Joseph 82-57 in the other semifinal.
Leading by two points late in the fourth quarter, Vashon looked to dissect the tough 1-2-2 zone defense of Tolton Catholic. Davis received the ball at the foul line and immediately looked baseline where Stovall was cutting.
The bounce pass by Davis resulted in a two-hand slam by Stovall, opened a four-point lead and provided the perfect exclamation point for Vashon.
The Wolverines showed toughness in the paint throughout the game in matching the physicality of a Father Tolton front line that included 6-foot-5 Izaak Porter, 6-foot-7 Will Fretwell and 6-foot-9 Evens Appleton.
“I knew I had to be strong going to the basket because they were going to meet me at the rim,” Davis said.
In the first half, the strength of Davis and Stovall helped Vashon open a nine-point lead. Tied 8-8, Stovall entered the game and scored seven consecutive points by converting in traffic for a three-point play, making a tough drive to the hoop and scoring in transition on a beautiful feed from Davis.
“The coaches were amping me up on the bench,” Stovall said. “I knew we were having a slow start, and I had to bring the energy. A big role I have on the team is to bring energy, and I just did what I had to do.”
Davis harnessed the energy of Stovall by draining a 17-foot jump shot and then stepping out even further to drain a 3-pointer as Vashon opened a 24-15 lead.
But a 1-2-2 zone defense employed by Tolton Catholic slowed down the pace, and the creativity of sophomore guard Zay Wilson brought the Trailblazers back.
Wilson led Tolton with 18 points, often mulling among the trees to convert floaters and reverse layups. A backdoor cut by Wilson and a breakaway layup by senior guard James Lee sliced the deficit to 30-27 at halftime.
“I thought our guards did a really good job of settling us in and getting us to the free throw line. It allowed us to catch our breath, slow it down and grind out possessions on both ends,” Tolton coach Jeremy Osborne said.
Lee, who scored 14 points, drained a corner jump shot to slice the deficit to 40-39, but the Vashon defense, led by Dierre Hill Jr. would not let the Trailblazers pass.
In a two-minute span in the fourth quarter, Hill forced a 5-second violation, made a steal, drew a charge and forced a turnover.
“Our defense has been our identity the whole year,” Irons said.
A strong putback by Stovall gave Vashon a three-point lead, and after a Tolton free throw, the chemistry between Davis and Stovall resulted in the two-handed dunk that proved to be the difference.
Vashon, whose closest margin of victory during the postseason was 30 points before Thursday, shot only 2-for-14 from three-point range and missed 10 of 21 free throws.
“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong, with turnovers, missed free throws and things that are uncharacteristic of us, but at this time of the year, it’s good to win,” Irons said.
On Friday, the Wolverines will face a Park Hills Central team that scored 82 points and shot 60 percent from the field on Thursday.
“We built our schedule to get us to a state championship and now we’re here. We just have to try to play our best game of the year.” Irons said.