Lutheran South Boys Take Second At Seckman Holiday Hoops Tournament

IMPERIAL – A difficult first month of the season finished on a bit of a high-note for the Lutheran South boys varsity basketball team, as the Lancers took second place at the Seckman Christmas Tournament.

Lutheran South nearly pulled off one of the great week-long runs in its recent history by winning all three games at Seckman High, but it seemed to run out of gas in the late-going Thursday night, and fell just short in a 70-61 championship game loss to Rockwood Summit High.

“It was (still) a good week,” Lutheran South head coach Brian Lind said. “We ran into some tough luck in a couple of games earlier in the year, and we thought if we could just get a couple of wins and string them together, this team could get some confidence.

“This game withstanding, I think our guys can walk out and feel good that they’re making progress with their season.”

And that was certainly true on the first and second days of the Seckman event, as Lutheran South rolled past Fox High (54-30) and Ft. Zumwalt East High (77-61) to reach Thursday’s championship game.

And even against Summit, the Lancers led 31-28 at halftime, and moved ahead by as many as five points in the third quarter, before the 7-2 tourney favorite Falcons rallied to take a two-point lead.

That third quarter proved especially exciting, as South and Summit took turns trading baskets and the lead, with both teams moving ahead at least three times during that one period of play.

The key moment though, came in the final seconds of that third quarter, when Summit’s Garrett Weber hit a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer, for his only bucket of the game, to give the Falcons a 47-43 edge heading into the final period.

Summit then opened the fourth quarter with a 10-3 run, that suddenly gave the Falcons a 57-46 lead in what had been an extremely tight ballgame.

“Summit got here by creating turnovers, that’s really a big part of their game,” Lind said. “They like to be physical, create turnovers, transition those turnovers and turn them into points. In the first half, I thought we did a good job with that. But in the second half, maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was just frustration at times, but they really executed on their gameplan.”

The one bright note from Thursday’s championship game was Lutheran South senior Jim Hudson being named to the Seckman Tournament All-Tournament team, after posting game-highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds against the Falcons.

Through the first half of the season, the 6’3 Hudson has been Lutheran South’s best player, with a 14.4 points/game and 7.9 rebounds/game average, while also serving as one of the Lancers’ vocal leaders and team captains.

“He’s having a really good season, and he had a good tournament,” Lind said. “He’s everything you want out of your senior leader. And he’s our go-to guy.

“He gives us some versatility. He can score, but he doesn’t have to score. He’s a willing passer. He’s very good on the boards. And without him, we struggle. We need him, and he’s been doing a great job for us all year.”

And the Lancers hope that will continue into the new year, as the really difficult part of the schedule is coming up in 2012, with the start of conference play in the ABC League.

At the halfway point of the season, already four of the other five ABC League teams have winning records, including undefeated and No. 7 in the area-ranked Lutheran North, which is 8-0 this year, and already owns a 69-50 win over Lutheran South from back on December 16.

“It’s going to be tough,” Lind said. “Our league is really good, and we start up league play right away. So we’re going to have to get ourselves ready real fast.”

The 2012 part of the Lancers’ season will begin on Tuesday, January 3, when Lutheran South will travel to Ladue to take on MICDS. Tip-off that night is at 7 p.m.

Then three days later, on Friday, January 6, the Lancers will finally get to play back at home with a Metro League game against Priory, which is also slated for a 7 p.m. start.  

All tolled, Lutheran South (3-6) will play 13 games in January and February, before the beginning of district play, which will be hosted at Lutheran South High during the week of February 20-24. 

LUTHERAN SOUTH LANCERS REMAINING BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

1/3                   at MICDS                                     7 pm

1/6                   vs. Priory                                      7 pm

1/10                 at Lindbergh                                  7 pm

1/12                 at Affton                                        7 pm

1/14                 vs. Lutheran SC                             6 pm

1/17                 vs. Principia                                   7 pm

1/18                 vs. John Burroughs                        7 pm

1/23-1/28         at Union (MO) Tournament              TBA

1/30                 vs. MICDS                                    7 pm

1/31                 at Priory                                       7 pm

2/4                   vs. Lutheran North                        7 pm

                        @ Maryville University

2/7                   at Principia                                    7 pm

2/14                 vs. Borgia                                     7 pm

2/17                 vs. John Burroughs                       7 pm

2/19-2/24         MSHSAA Districts                          TBA

                       @ Lutheran South High