FENTON – Vianney brothers Brock and Omar Long have a lot in common, from their dark, curly hair to their three-point accuracy.
On Thursday, they shared another commonality – they did not miss a shot.
The Long brothers made all 12 of their field goal attempts, including eight three-pointers, as hot-shooting Vianney defeated Westminster 74-61 in a Class 5 District 2 semifinal at Summit High School.
Vianney (23-5) advanced to play top-seeded Webster Groves (21-7) for the district championship at 3 p.m. Saturday at Summit High. It is a rematch of last year’s district title game, won in the final minutes by the Statesmen.
In addition to his perfect shooting night, Brock Long displayed excellence in all aspects of the game. In the first quarter, with Westminster sticking tight to Vianney’s lethal three-point shooters, Long drove the lane and dished out four assists in the opening four minutes – three on lobs to 7-foot center Mamadou Barry.
“We have dynamite shooters and their defenders weren’t leaving the corners, so I just tried to get in the paint. If I could score, I’d score, or I’d drop it off to Mahmoud,” said Brock Long, who totaled eight assists for the game.
His most impactful contribution may have come without the ball, however, after Westminster junior Will Powers produced a third-quarter explosion for the ages.
The Wildcats’ sharp-shooter went wild after halftime, scoring from the midrange, from deep, and on a cut to the basket that produced a thunderous dunk. When he stole a Vianney outlet pass and swished a 35-footer at the buzzer, Powers had produced an electric, 18-point third quarter, and Westminster had sliced the deficit to 58-53.
“He’s just a great player,” Vianney coach Kevin Walsh said of Powers. “We just had to try to not let it get into his hands, so we switched what we were doing and went ‘no catch,’ and Brock took that challenge.”
Long hounded Powers all over the floor and tried to prevent him from receiving the ball. Powers released only two shot attempts in the fourth, made one, and the rest of the Wildcats went cold from the field.
“(Powers) can play, man. There’s only so much you can do when it comes to him getting a shot off, so I just tried to make it as tough as I could for him, and if he got it, force him to take tough shots,” Long said.
Meanwhile, Brock’s brother Omar started hot and stayed hot. Despite a Westminster defense keen on shadowing him, Omar Long hit a highly-contested three late in the first quarter, then hit another one on the next possession with even less room.
“After the first possession, I knew they were going to be tight to me. When I saw the first one go in and with the way it came off my hand, I knew it was going to be my night. Some of them were tough shots, but I’m ready to make those,” said Omar Long, who scored 17 points, including 5-for-5 from deep.
His final basket may have been the most impressive -an acrobatic, left-handed, reverse layup that he spun perfectly off the backboard.
“That’s not something I work on as much, but it was just my night, I guess,” Omar said.
Brock Long had 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting, including three triples. Chase Duke added 18 points and nine rebounds while going 7-for-11 from the field. In all, Vianney shot 63 percent from the field (27-of-43) and 75 percent from three (9-of-12).
“I thought our balance was really good. A lot of different guys made big shots for us at big times,” Walsh said.
Westminster, which finished the season with a 20-8 record, got a game-high 31 points from Powers, but no other player reached double figures. Other than Powers, the normally sharp-shooting Wildcats went 3-for-20 from three and 3-of-9 from the free throw line.
It sets up a district championship rematch between Vianney and Webster Groves that the defending Class 5 champion Statesmen pulled out 76-70 last season, outscoring the Griffins by 11 in the fourth quarter.
“They’re really good, and I think we’re pretty good too,” Walsh said. “It will be a heavyweight championship fight, like last year.”
For a photo gallery from this game: visit the link below:
