St. Mary's Rolls Past Confluence Sets Up Rematch Date with Vashon

Tony Burks had a good time. 

Yuri Collins did, too. 

The sellout crowd that lined up more than 90 minutes before tipoff? 

Not so much. 

In front of a packed house, St. Mary's turned the most highly anticipated district championship game in the area into a blowout as it beat Confluence 91-64 to win the Class 4 District 3 title Thursday at St. Mary's.

The No. 4 small school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, St. Mary's (26-3) has won back-to-back district titles for the first time since 1976-77. It advanced to play nemesis and No. 1 small school Vashon (20-5) in a sectional at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Parkway West.

The two-time defending Class 4 champion, Vashon beat St. Mary's 72-68 in overtime in the same game last season.

Not that the Dragons were worried about that Thursday.

“We think about it, but Coach (Bryan Turner) tells us one game at a time. Out here on this court we're not worried about that,” said Collins, St. Mary's junior point guard. “We're worried about what's in front of us. Now we're thinking about it. Now we're going to prepare for them.”

St. Mary's gets the game it waited a year to play because it steamrolled Confluence. The No. 3 small school, Confluence (23-5) hadn't lost to a Missouri opponent this season. It nearly took out No. 2 large school Belleville West at the Centralia Tournament. The Titans played every opponent they could get on the schedule this season and handled nearly all of them.

Senior point guard Brandon Fredrick was the catalyst for Confluence all season. The area's second leading scorer with a 28 points per game average, Fredrick has seen every kind of defense this season and found a way to thrive.

That was not the case Thursday. Fredrick was held to a season-low nine points before he exited the game with an injury with 1 minute and 40 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Donavanne Austin had primary defensive responsibilities, but the Dragons threw bodies at Fredrick all night to force him to take a contested shot or pass the ball.

“We had Donavanne pressing him up the court. He didn't leave him, he didn't help off him,” said Burks, a senior guard. “We just tried to trap him and keep the ball out of his hands.”

The night ended badly for the Titans, but it started well. They had a 5-0 lead and the Dragons came up empty on their first four possessions. In front of a packed house, a good portion of which was pulling for Confluence, Collins and St. Mary's remained stonefaced. By the midpoint of the first quarter the Dragons had the lead.

“We kept our composure. They got up on us quick but we're at home. We have home court advantage and our fans kept that going,” Burks said. “We had a big crowd out here. We kept playing.”

Burks was strong as he had 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Senior post Yahuza Rasas was all over the place with 13 points, nine rebounds, three steals and six blocks.

Collins was the best all-around player on the court as he finished with 19 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals. The 5-foot-11 Collins was a force Confluence couldn't contain.

“They're a very good team and they played very well,” Confluence coach Brian Karvinen said. “That's the best I've seen them play in awhile. Yuri is special. Tony was good tonight.”

Senior guard Lavel Harris had 14 points and senior guard Miles Jones had nine points.

Confluence was led by senior forward Will Howard's 22 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Mike Clark had 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. Perry finished with 10 points, six rebounds and fouled out a minute into the fourth quarter. He picked up his third foul with a minute to play in the first quarter. When he had to sit in the second quarter, the Dragons extended their lead from 18-17 at the end of the first to 43-32 at halftime.

Karvinen didn't want to leave Perry on the court that early with two fouls but felt he had no choice.

“It wasn't by accident, we were rolling the dice. We couldn't get ourselves into a hole,” he said. “The second quarter it got away from us with Leon on the bench. I think Brandon at that point thought he had to score.”

Fredrick couldn't get into a groove and Confluence couldn't keep up with the Dragons. At the end of the third quarter St. Mary's led 72-42.

“Give St. Mary's credit, they were the better team,” Karvinen said.

After building toward something special the last four years the St. Mary's seniors finished their careers at home with a performance they'll never forget.

“Us at home, we're unstoppable,” Collins said. “Going out with a bang like this, with a district championship at home, it was big for me and the team.” By David Kvidahl of the St. Louis Post Dispatch