O’FALLON, Mo. – The young MICDS basketball team is growing, and not only in height.
The Rams, which start four sophomores, recovered from early, double-digit deficits to win two of their previous three games, but on Friday, they found themselves in an even more precarious predicament.
And once again, they found the answer.
Sophomores Brandon Clemens and Jason Stokes each scored 17 points and connected on crucial back-to-back three-pointers to propel MICDS to a 66-60 come-from-behind victory over Rock Bridge to win the 62nd Fort Zumwalt North Invitational championship Friday at Zumwalt North HIgh.
MICDS (13-4), which won the FZN Invitational for the second time in three seasons, avenged a 52-45 loss to Rock Bridge in the championship game last season. In that game, Rock Bridge led 11-3 after the first quarter.
That memory, combined with a 10-point first quarter deficit at Eureka on Jan. 19, and a 13-point first quarter deficit against St. Dominic in the semifinal, prompted MICDS Travis Wallace to adjust his pregame speech.
“I usually give five keys to victory before every game we play. Our first key, which hadn’t been our key, was getting off to a good start,” Wallace said.
With Stokes leading the way, the Rams unlocked a brilliant first quarter.
He began the game with a corner three, drew a charge and ripped away contested rebounds. Triples by sophomores Keshon Mims and Gabe Weaver continued the barrage, and when Stokes converted a putback, MICDS had built a 15-3 lead less than five minutes into the game.
“Last year we lost to them, and we knew that lately we’ve been coming out slow. We knew in order to beat them, we had to turn it up and really come out hot,” Clemens said.
A 21-point first quarter was achieved without any points from Clemens, the Rams leading scorer with a 13.6 points per game average. But in the second quarter, with senior point guard Jayden Banks on the bench with two fouls, Clemens became the go-to guy.
He drained a two-dribble, pull-up jumper in the lane, converted a tough layup in transition and connected on a baseline 14-footer to allow MICDS to carry a double-digit lead into halftime. On the first possession of the second half, Clemens connected on a deep three to give the Rams a 38-25 lead.
“I let (the game) come to me. I was picking my spots, here and there. If I saw a gap, I was going to drive to it. If (Stokes) was open, I was going to throw it to him. We were just playing collectively as a unit and nothing was forced,” Clemens said.
The rhythm on offense was supplemented by a sound plan on defense, led by the outstanding post play of sophomore Gabe Weaver on Rock Bridge 6-foot-6 senior Reese Minnix. The Bruins continually found ways to isolate Minnix in the post, and Weaver forced him into taking tough shots or no shot at all.
“Coaches provide film and (Minnix) had a rip right, spin move in his bag, so I tried to lock in on guarding that move,” Weaver said.
But Minnix helped Rock Bridge (12-5) change momentum with his own defensive play at the top of a 1-3-1 zone that stopped MICDS in its tracks. Minnix forced high, bloop passes, restricted the vision of MICDS guards and created deflections and turnovers.
“To their credit, that (adjustment) was really, really good. They slowed us down and we got real stagnant. We had a couple turnovers and now we’re playing on our heels,” Wallace said.
Three-point bombs from Brody Davidson, Dylan Davis and Josh Muhirwa energized the crowd. A back line steal and coast-to-coast layup by Davis sliced the deficit to two points. Consecutive threes by Quin Bailey and Muhirwa completed a 21-4 run and gave the Bruins a 46-42 lead after three quarters.
“(The 1-3-1) really helped us. We haven’t played it much because we’re pretty good man-to-man, but they’re really quick with the ball and we weren’t moving our feet,” Rock Bridge coach Jim Scanlon said. “We had them asleep for a while and got the lead, but we kind of got ahead a little too early. I wish we’d have gotten ahead with about three minutes left in the game.”
A Davis three and a runner by Jagger Cornell increased the Rock Bridge advantage to 51-44 before the young Rams exhibited their growth in real time.
A corner three by Clemens stemmed the tide, a three from the same corner by Stokes reversed the flow in the Rams’ favor.
“We didn’t fold. We knew they had made a run, and we knew that we were going to make a run. And that was our moment,” Clemens said.
Two minutes later, Stokes provided the dagger three that gave MICDS a 58-53 lead.
“We just had to stay locked in and stick to the basics – running our plays, getting each other open and hitting our shots,” said Stokes, who earned tournament MVP honors.
The late lead for MICDS forced Rock Bridge to return to a man-to-man defense, and Banks and Stokes took control, handling double teams and combining to convert 8-of-8 free throws in the final two minutes.
For the Rams, the win was the sixth in the last seven games since squandering a 19-point second half lead to Ladue in a 53-52 loss on Dec. 28. Since then, they have shown the resolve to recover from early deficits, and on Friday, they showed the mettle to salvage victory in a game that was slipping away.
“Two weeks ago, we lose this game,” Wallace said. “We still have a long way to go, but it’s good to win and still learn.”
Stokes added, “It feels good, but it’s just our first step. We’re going to get stronger, stay in the gym, keep working and do more.”
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