As the lone senior on the Kirkwood boys basketball team, Jameson Hughes has embraced his role as a leader, and that leadership was on full display last week after the Pioneers lost their first game at the Don Maurer Holiday Invitational Tournament.
“I know my role is to step up and help my teammates be resilient,” Hughes said. “After that first loss, I tried to rally the team, keep our energy high and make sure we didn’t lose another game after that.”
Hughes helped a young Kirkwood squad win three consecutive games, including a 51-35 victory over Parkway South on Dec. 30, to capture the consolation championship at the Don Maurer Holiday Invitational played at MICDS.
Kirkwood (5-4), in the midst of a four-game winning streak with a margin of victory of 25.8 points, will travel to face defending Class 5 champion Webster Groves (7-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Roberts Gymnasium.
After a nine-point loss to Ladue, the Pioneers took a 1-4 record into a rematch with Jennings, a team that had beaten them two weeks earlier. Kirkwood defeated Jennings, then knocked off Fort Zumwalt North to earn the right to play Parkway South for the consolation championship.
“These four games were perfect for us. We needed to play opponents that were going to challenge us in different ways,” Kirkwood coach Nelson Taylor III said.
The biggest challenge in the consolation championship game came from Parkway South big man Jacob Sidwell, who scored 22 points, including 13 of the first 15 points for the Patriots.
Kirkwood was held scoreless over the first four minutes before cranking up the full court pressure and increasing the energy level. A steal by sophomore Justin Daugherty led to a layup from sophomore Jude Nixon, and three-pointers by Daugherty and junior Grady Rowan pushed Kirkwood to a 21-17 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Kirkwood applied a zone defense that pressured the ball and made it difficult for the Patriots’ guards to throw entry passes to Sidwell. When Sidwell did receive it, a rugged band of Pioneers forged a direct path into his territory.
“The focus was to make sure (Sidwell) couldn’t continue to hurt us inside by packing it in and digging in the post. We wanted to make sure if they were going to beat us, they were going to have to beat us from the outside,” Taylor said.
Four consecutive points by Hughes and a dunk by junior Liam Nixon highlighted an 11-1 run by Kirkwood and the Pioneers began to pull away.
“We had great energy coming out of halftime and played hard,” Liam Nixon said.
Kirkwood began the season by losing four of their first five games and trailed Ladue by 18 points at halftime in the Don Maurer tourney opener, but helped by the leadership of Hughes, the young Pioneers turned around their fortunes.
“He has fully embraced that leadership role. He wants to be the guy who helps galvanize the team, both on and off the court,” Taylor said.
Kirkwood’s four-game winning streak is highlighted by a willingness to share the basketball. A different Pioneer has led the team in scoring in all four games, and against Parkway South, four different players scored at least nine points.
In many ways, the win against Parkway South was a perfect symbol for the Pioneers’ week at the Don Maurer tournament and for the beginning of their season – encountering early struggles before finding a way to overcome them.
“We learned that it’s easy to turn things around when we get our energy right,” Hughes said.
Taylor added, “Facing adversity, having some resilience, and the boys found it within themselves to play together and play hard. It’s exactly how we wanted to finish this tournament out.”
For a photo gallery of this game and many more from the Don Maurer Holiday Invitational, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Boys-Basketball-Photos/Boys-Basketball-2025-26
