ST. JOHN – The John Burroughs boys basketball team seemingly has all the ingredients – four players averaging double digits in scoring, lights-out three-point shooting and one of the tallest front lines in the state.
But after losing back-to-back games in early December, the Bombers embraced the challenge of seeing how they measured up against one of the best teams in Class 4 when they faced Tolton Catholic, a two-time defending state semifinalist.
Owen Walther hit seven 3’s and the duo of Tristan Reed and Sheek Pearson combined for 18 points and eight blocks as John Burroughs defeated Tolton 70-62 at the Midwest Showdown Shootout presented by Ramey Basketball on Saturday at Ritenour High School.
“This is our first win, at least while I’ve been in the program, against a team that’s been to the final four and been to state championships, so it means a lot,” said Walther, a junior.
The Bombers lived up to their name in the first half as they connected on six long-range bombs in the opening quarter. Walther drained the first three triples, unleashing a lightning-quick release despite aggressive close-outs by Tolton defenders as John Burroughs opened an early 11-4 lead.
“He gets that shot off so fast,” John Burroughs coach Darryl ‘PeeWee’ Lenard said of Walther. “He’s not the freakiest athlete, so he knows his limitations and he has no fear of coming into the gym and putting the work in.”
Senior Ramzi Salem, who scored 17 points, joined the long-distance parade by draining 3’s on consecutive possessions before Walther hit his fourth triple of the quarter. It opened a 20-6 advantage for the Bombers with 18 of the points coming from behind the arc.
In the second quarter, Tolton Catholic continued to collapse on Reed and Pearson in the post in hopes that the Bombers’ torrid outside shooting would cool down – but it did not.
The lead grew to 17 points after Walther hit his seventh triple by coming off a screen and draining a straight-away three, and John Burroughs eventually entered the locker room with a comfortable 42-27 advantage.
“Sheek and Tristan, they’re so good inside and they draw a lot of attention, and Max (Steinbach) and Ramzi do a great job of finding the open guy, and that just happened to be me in the first half,” Walther said.
Maintaining large leads had not been easy for John Burroughs, most notably, suffering a 73-69 loss at home to St. Mary’s on Dec. 5 after taking a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Tolton junior Zay Wilson tried to create a similar scenario when he continually drove the paint and either drew contact or converted pull-ups in traffic. The 6-foot Wilson scored 14 interior points through three quarters and forced John Burroughs to change its defensive approach.
“He’s a pretty shifty guard, and we knew in order to contain him, we had to limit his touches and make him take tough shots. That’s why we decided to go 3-2 and 2-3 zone because it kind of matched us up,” Lenard said.
In the third quarter, the 6-foot-8 Reed and the 6-foot-9 Pearson showed their chemistry during a stretch where each sophomore big man sought out the other. Reed scored a pair of baskets, then found Pearson on a beautiful high-low connection.
“The selflessness is what I love about them,” Lenard said. “They’re growing together and they want to see each other succeed. When you have two kids with their capabilities that love playing together and play unselfishly, that’s the key to their success.”
John Burroughs took a 53-42 lead into the fourth quarter, but like St. Mary’s did 11 days earlier, Tolton came at the Bombers with ferocious full-court pressure during the final eight minutes.
“I put them in situations in practice where I have six or seven on defense, sometimes eight, to get them used to playing under that adversity and make decisions out of that,” Lenard said.
Led by the confident ball-handling of Steinbach, Salem and Walther, the Bombers calmly negotiated the pressure. Steinbach hit consecutive shots to open the quarter, including a fall-away, lefty bank shot that expanded the lead.
A lefty scoop from Tolton senior Javar Galbreath and a three-ball from senior Will Fretwell sliced the Trailblazers’ deficit to 62-57 with 1:37 remaining.
But John Burroughs maintained both possession and its cool, eventually sealing the game by going 7-for-8 at the free throw line in the final minutes.
“It’s just being composed,” Walther said. “We work on that with our spread (offense), holding the ball and handling the pressure, so it was just doing that.”
He added, “This win really shows that we’ve grown.”