Eagles, Hawks soar at home
In a busy weekend of boys basketball action, Columbia came through with an impressive win on its home court and Gibault honored its legendary 1999 squad in style.
Columbia (14-6) trailed 37-32 at halftime against Okawville, but a second half surge propelled the Eagles to a 62-59 win. Jacob O’Connor led Columbia with 21 points and nine rebounds. Jon Peterson, who was honored prior to the game for recently recording his 1,000th career point, added 20 points and nine rebounds.
The Eagles will host Gibault on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Following a lopsided 68-37 loss at Chester on Friday, Gibault (11-13) marched out to a 30-13 halftime lead at home Saturday against Red Bud en route to a 44-31 victory. Karson Huels led the way with nine points for the Hawks.
Gibault honored its 1999 hoops team that went 28-7 and lost on a buzzer beater to Rock Falls in the Class A state title game by inducting the squad into the Gibault Athletic Hall of Fame. In pregame remarks, head coach Dennis Rueter said his 1999 squad was “without question the most talented team, as far as I’m concerned, that Gibault’s ever had.”
To watch an archived video of the 1999 title game, click here.
In other hoops action from the weekend, Waterloo (7-17) lost a heartbreaker at Civic Memorial, 66-62. The Bulldogs led by three points entering the fourth quarter and were up four points with 2:10 to play, but couldn’t hold on.
Jake Wade scored 24 and Tre Wahlig scored 23 points for the ‘Dogs, who shot 54 percent from the floor but committed 18 turnovers and were outrebounded 30-21.
Valmeyer (8-14) cruised to a 70-30 win Friday over Lebanon. Henry Weber led the Pirates with 17 points, followed by Jacob Rowold with 16 points.
At the Herculaneum tournament, Dupo (11-12) came from behind to edge McKinley on Friday, 45-43. Kelvin Swims led the Tigers with 20 points and five steals.