St. Louis Christian, one of the more unique, yet dominating teams the St. Francis Borgia Thanksgiving Tournament has ever seen, captured the 2012 championship Saturday night.
The third-seeded Cougars, the first MSHSAA affiliate school to ever play in the Turkey Tournament, cruised past fifth-seeded Washington in the championship game, 61-44.
"There was a lot of good competition here. It's a great team win for us," said St. Louis Christian Head Coach Casey Autenrieth. "We were a little worried coming into the tournament. We're a little young and inexperienced. We haven't had a lot of practice time together. I was real proud of my guys and the way they came together. We got better every game. We really sold out defensively. We're crazy excited about what this season is going to bring for us."
St. Louis Christian (4-0) jumped to leads of 11-0, 17-3 and 19-7 after one quarter and never looked back.
The Cougars, a team that will travel all over the country this season, held leads of 31-20 at halftime and 45-26 after three quarters.
"I think it was good for us to play a team like that. We know what it's like to play at that high of a level," said Washington Head Coach Chip Sodemann. "We can do nothing but learn from it, correct our mistakes and get ready for the next game."
Ronnie Suggs paced the Blue Jays (2-1) in the title game with 20 points.
In other action Saturday at the Turkey Tournament;
• Top-seeded McCluer North (2-1) won the third-place game over second-seeded Borgia (1-2), 62-44.
• Fourth-seeded Cardinal Ritter (2-1) claimed the consolation crown over seventh-seeded Carnahan (1-2), 54-52.
• Sixth-seeded Pacific (1-2) took the seventh-place game over eighth-seeded St. Clair (0-3), 55-48.
All-Tournament Team
St. Louis Christian 6-6 senior forward Javier Martinez was named the MVP of the Turkey Tournament.
Other members of the all-tournament team were:
• Anthony Pratt, St. Louis Christian;
• Ronnie Suggs, Washington;
• Luke Schroepfer, Washington;
• Rashad Lindsey, McCluer North;
• Casey Kuchem, Borgia;
• Charles Jones, Cardinal Ritter;
• Imani Reed, Carnahan;
• Cullen VanLeer, Pacific; and
• Neyko Dominguez, St. Clair.
St. Clair received the sportsmanship award.
