Sesser-Valier vs. Okawville - Christopher vs. Woodlawn - 1A Christopher Regional Semifinals

1A Christopher Regional

Sesser-Valier

Okawville

Sesser-Valier (48) - Laur 0 0 0-0 0, McMurray 7 1 1-2 18, Borta 0 0 0-0 0, Menser 3 1 0-0 9, Willmore 2 2 0-2 10, Short 2 1 0-0 7, Kistner 1 0 0-0 2, Payne 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-16/3FG-5/FT-1-4PF-21.

Okawville (55) - Turner 3 4 2-6 20, Gavin 0 0 0-0 0, Obermeier 2 1 4-6 11, Maynard 0 0 0-0 0, Schaller 0 0 0-0 0, Shubert 0 2 1-2 7, Anderson 4 1 6-8 17.
2FG-9/3FG-8/FT-13-22/PF-9.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Okawville, Christopher advance
Rockets hold off Sesser-Valier; Bearcats' blast Woodlawn

02/26/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER - On Wednesday night at the 1A Christopher Regional the two games played were nothing alike other than it was basketball.

The Okawville Rockets, the higher of the seeds in the event, struggled but finally put away Sesser-Valier in the first semifinal.

On the other hand the second semifinal wasn't nearly as close.

The host Bearcats came out of the gate on fire and, after a brief cool down in the second quarter, scorched the Woodlawn Cardinals in the second half in a dominating win.

The two victors will clash Friday night for a regional championship.

The Rockets had trouble with the Red Devils but Coach Ryan Heck's club outscored S-V 15-6 in the fourth quarter to finish their rally and make it to the regional championship game.

Sesser-Valier and head coach Marcus Clarry saw their season end with the defeat that closed the season at 9-21.

Okawville improved to 18-15 and will try to win their first regional championship since 2019-20.

After missing some early free throws the Rockets finished off the win and the Red Devils with 7-of-10 from the foul line in the final frame.

“I learned from Coach (Jon) Kraus. I've always been an offensive coach but defense and rebounds is what it takes to win in the postseason,” said Coach Heck. “I've got the big boy (Anderson) who gets every rebound in sight, Shubert had a couple of big boards for us in traffic, Braylen Turner got some big boards for us. That's what it takes. We made the big stops.”

Sophomore guard Braylen Turner notched 20-points to pace Okawville while 6-9 senior Aiden Anderson scored 17 and grabbed 11-rebounds for the Rockets.

Junior guard Ryker Obermeier added 11-points and junior Landon Shubert added seven-points for the Rockets.

Sesser-Valier was led in scoring by junior guard Liam McMurray with 18-points and senior guard Kyler Willmore closed out his prep hardwood career with 10.

Senior center Brandon Menser ended up with nine-points and junior Kyan Short scored seven.

The Rockets ended up with a 17-of-37 shooting performance, 8-of-17 from the 3-point line with Turner hitting four of the 3-pointers, all in the first half for Okawville as they led 29-27 at halftime.

Sesser-Valier ended up 21-of-50 from the field, 5-of-19 from the arc.

“That's a really good nine or ten seed (Sesser-Valier) and we knew we would have our hands full tonight,” said Coach Heck. “But my kids stepped up tonight. I'm not sure that earlier in the year when we would get down three or five if we would have won a game like this. But our kids are growing up right before my eyes and I couldn't be prouder.”

When the Red Devils needed points late, they were just 1-of-10 from long distance in the final eight minutes.

Behind Anderson the Rockets won the glass battle with a rebound edge of 30-21.

Both teams ended up with seven turnovers each but five of the Red Devil miscues came in the second half.

(CONTINUED)

The Christopher performance was exceptional.

Coach Eric Stallman has had some good teams in the past that put together great offensive games but the Wednesday night shooting exhibition was special.

Led by junior guard Landon Sveda, the Bearcats laid into Woodlawn with a 3-point barrage that made the game lopsided by the end.

Sveda nailed down eight of the Christopher 14 made 3-pointers and ended up with 26-points to lead the way.

Five of the bombs landed in the first half as the Bearcats led 24-4 with 5:53 left in the first half.

For Woodlawn head coach Luke Cooper the nightmarish contest wasn't one as the Cardinals fell behind early and after a brief rally in the second quarter, saw the season end with a thud at 19-13.

The lone bright spot for the Cardinals was 6-3 sophomore guard Luke McKay who led all point producers with 29-points.

No one else wearing the white jerseys had more than five points.

Sveda got help from his teammates as everyone got in on the fun.

Senior Aidan Skropka tossed in 17-points while senior Carson Hobbs netted 16.

Senior guard Chase Cole added five-points, classmate Samuel Traitor scored three points and Coach Stallman got two-points each from junior Trevin Skropka and senior Conner DeWeerdt.

Woodlawn, after trailing early, cut the margin down to just 31-21 at halftime and they had to be thinking that the Bearcats would start missing more shot attempts.

They were wrong.

Christopher opened the second half by hitting 10-of-10 field goal attempts with the first four coming from long range.

Hobbs and Sveda each nailed down 3-pointers and then Aidan Skropka connected back-to-back backbreaking bombs that ballooned the lead to 47-28 Bearcats with 3:42 left in the third quarter.

“We were good defensively and that was the big thing tonight,” said Coach Stallman. “I know we shot the ball well but we did a really good job in the first quarter holding them to four points. We set the tone on how we were going to guard tonight.”

Hobbs and Sveda each added to the long range domination with Sveda hitting consecutive 3-pointers for a 58-35 lead heading to the final quarter.

The Bearcats put the game on ice by hitting 6-of-7 shots in the final eight minutes before the reserves got playing time late.

Coach Stallman's bunch posted impressive numbers with 27-of-43 from the floor, 14-of-26 from the 3-point line.

Woodlawn ended up just 15-of-40 and only 2-of-13 from the arc.

The Cardinals added to their woes and fueled the Bearcats' fire with 14-turnovers, six in the first quarter as they fell behind.

McKay was 11-of-19 from the floor but the rest of the Woodlawn squad was 4-of-18.

“We shared the ball so well tonight. When you do that it is nice. We have a lot of guys who can shoot it well and they have done it all year. When we played them in December we weren't healthy. Hobbs (knee) and Cole (knee) were still rehabilitating. They're two of our better players and they were not at full strength until now. Now we're clicking at the end of the year,” said Coach Stallman about his now 18-13 Bearcats.