Whitfield Warriors Top De Smet 44-42

The Whitfield Warriors won the finale of their annual round-robin tournamment with a 44-42 victory over the De Smet Spartans Friday night, in an early season matchup of Creve Coeur teams from different classes expecting to make runs deep into the postseason.

Whitfield gained the win despite only scoring one basket, a free throw, in the second quarter, and an undersized lineup featuring no one taller than 6'4. The Spartan front line ranges from 6'4 to 6'10.

"We didn’t make a lot of shots, we certainly missed our fair share of free throws  but we did enough to win," said Whitfield Head Coach Mike Potsou. The Warriors were led in scoring by Darius Rucker, with 15 points and Zach Ellis, who added 11. A pair of early three point baskets from Rucker and Justin Thomas gave the Warriors an early 8-2 lead that they held 14-13 after the first period.

The Spartans used their height advantage at times, with forward Nolan Berry throwing down a pair of first half dunks on consecutive possessions. Berry led De Smet in scoring with 14 points.

In the second half De Smet built a 10 point edge on a pair of Eric Moeller baskets inside, but could not pull away. In the fourth quarter, doing enough to win for Whitfield meant getting key three point baskets in the fourth quarter from Rucker, Zach Ellis and Griffin Diemer, as the teams stayed close into the game's final minutes.

An errant Jimmy Barton three point attempt, with De Smet down 44-42 late was gathered in by Zach Ellis, and an early season win tucked away for the homestanding Warriors.

De Smet (2-1) gets back on the court Tuesday night in the team's home opener against Vianney, while Whitfield (2-1) stays at home to face Crossroads.

" Any time you can beat the #1 ranked 5A School with the amount of kids we have is a great victory," Potsou added. "In the end, it’s a nice victory to build on but this is a long year, and just one game."