St. Mary's Sets Sights on State Run

This is the year of the Dragons.

The St. Mary's basketball team spent three seasons building toward this winter. Now it's time to see if it has enough to make a run at the ring.

The No. 1 small school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, St. Mary's returns 10 players who saw significant varsity time last season and nine of them are seniors. The lone underclassman is junior point guard Yuri Collins, who with every sweet dime adds to his school record for most career assists.

St. Mary's is long, athletic, deep, experienced and motivated.

Actually motivated might not be strong enough. They're mad.

Really mad.

St. Mary's went 24-4 last season. It won its first district title since 2009. It grabbed the championship of a brutal field at the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday Tournament. It was a season to remember when it ended.

It was hard to forget how it ended.

The Dragons were beaten 72-68 in overtime by Vashon in a Class 4 sectional. It was the toughest game the Wolverines had in the playoffs as they went on to repeat as Class 4 champions. It was the third consecutive year Vashon eliminated St. Mary's.

And they've heard about it ever since.

“We talked about it and we're over it,” senior guard Tony Burks said. “Hopefully we'll get to see them again.”

Burks led the Dragons in scoring last year. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard poured in 14 points a night. The only other player to average double figures in points was 6-7 senior post Yahuza Rasas, who chipped in 13 points and 8 rebounds a game.

St. Mary's gets contributions from all over the court and that's the beauty of how its constructed. Collins distributes the ball with poise and precision. He averaged 7 assists and 9 points per game as a sophomore.

Senior forward Dominic Mitchell (6-5) put up 7 points per game as a junior. In his first five games this season, he's been good for 17 points. Guard Miles Jones (6-5) scored 8 points per game as a junior. Through five games this season, he's averaging 12.

The Dragons have so many weapons it'll be hard to stop all of them on any given night.

“We have different lineups we can throw out there,” St. Mary's coach Bryan Turner said. “We have a speedy lineup to pressure the ball. We have a long lineup, we have what I call an IQ lineup. It's a nice luxury.”

The Dragons have plenty of bodies and will use all of them. Last season there were times they substituted like a hockey team, changing its lines with five guys on and five guys off. They like to play an aggressive, pressing style that puts opposing guards in a trick box that creates turnovers and easy transition baskets. It's a miserable way to spend an evening if you're going against it.

“Everybody knows us. We come to play hard and trap,” Burks said. “We're going to grind you, make you throw it away.”

St. Mary's has been on a mission since last season ended. The Dragons crushed their offseason workouts. They went undefeated in the fall league during football season. They rolled to the tournament championship at the Alton Tip-Off Classic last week without Collins, who was nursing a shoulder injury. He has since returned to action and is expected to be back to 100 percent soon.

All of it has been fueled by their near-misses the last two years.

“I'll never forget the feeling in the locker room after losing to Vashon. We all have that in our back,” Mitchell said. “We have to prove to ourselves, our teammates and our coaches that we can make it all the way this year.”

Turner led St. Mary's through its team camp in the summer and open gyms. There were days the Dragons' offseason conditioning was running through South City.

“I've got that Rocky mentality,” Turner said. “You have to be in the community.”

An assistant at St. Mary's the last three years under Kelvin Lee, Turner moved into the lead job after Lee departed in the offseason. Lee now is coaching at University City.

After stints as the head coach at Beaumont and Gateway STEM, Turner understands how special this team and its opportunity can be.

“These guys have been through the fire. They've been model guys for the program for four years,” Turner said. “I just hope these guys can go out with something special and bring something special to the school.”- By David Kvidahl of the St. Louis Post Dispatch