Knights capture pool at Oakville tourney
ST. LOUIS — Two powerhouse wrestling programs from Indiana prevented Farmington from going undefeated at the Oakville Gateway Duals Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The Knights captured their pool with three straight wins, but were topped by Merrillville 34-29 in the semifinal round before falling to Mater Dei of Evansville 43-24 in the third-place dual.
Farmington opened the event strong by defeating host Oakville 58-6, then rolled over Columbia Rock Bridge 71-6. Pool play concluded with a 53-22 triumph against Whitfield.
Three Farmington wrestlers — Todd Brackett (112), Josh Kelleher (145) and Justin Heberlie (189/215) — were perfect in five contested bouts, while Ethan Hennes finished 3-0 overall in the 189-pound division.
Compiling 4-1 records on the day for the Knights were Dakota Napoli (103) and the returning Jesse Francis (135), along with Stanton Ketcherside (152), Greg Bonnell (160) and Brett Bader (171).
Paden Sparks, Austin Miner and Les Thilking were each 3-2. Farmington will complete its home schedule on Tuesday by hosting both Washington and Ft. Zumwalt North.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Three Rivers 84, Mineral Area 56
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — The Mineral Area College men’s basketball team yielded a 13-0 run after taking an early lead Saturday night, and rival Three Rivers only pulled away from there.
The 20th-ranked Raiders built a commanding 20-point lead by halftime, and shot 54 percent overall while landing four starters in double figures to pummel the Cardinals 84-58 in the Region XVI opener for both teams.
Aloysius Henry powered in a game-high 18 points as Three Rivers (14-3) compiled a plus-16 rebounding margin. Nick Niemczyk and Richard Walker netted 15 points each and Marquise Carter tallied 12 in the victory.
Carter and Niemczyk nailed consecutive 3-pointers late in the first half, and Farmington graduate Lance Miller beat the buzzer with a transition tip, giving the host club a 44-24 advantage.
Mineral Area (13-4) was a perfect 10-for-10 at the charity stripe during the opening stanza, but posted its final lead at 14-13 following a putback from sophomore Shamus Ferguson.
Josh Minner paced the Cardinals with 10 points and Riley Raulston added nine on three 3-pointers. Martell Anderson and Al Rapier scored seven each.
Mineral Area will host Florissant Valley for a men’s and women’s double-header on Wednesday.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Hermann 76, Farmington 62
ST. LOUIS — Playing its first game in 17 days on Saturday, the Farmington girls basketball team struggled to keep pace with the prolific scoring attack of Class 2 power Hermann and junior all-stater Shelby Winkelmann.
Winkelmann compiled 22 of her game-high 33 points before halftime, and the unbeaten Lady Bearcats pulled away for a 76-62 victory in the Prepcasts Elite Shootout at CBC High School.
Freshman Rachel Williams scored 18 points as the Knightettes generated much of their output inside. Morgan Ankrom netted a dozen of her 14 points before the break, while Whitney Heuring finished with 12.
Baskets in the paint from Williams and Ankrom brought Farmington even at 30-30 before Hermann closed the first half on a 10-2 spurt.
Farmington (6-3) faced its largest deficit of 63-43 early in the fourth quarter, but forced a sequence of turnovers to mount an 11-0 run.
Ashley Brooks scored 11 points and Karen Rohlfing added 10 for Hermann, which led 21-17 through one period. Reserve Krista Lane equaled the Farmington bench with nine.
