12/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
ST. ELMO – The players for the Cumberland Pirates know that when it comes to 3-point shots, green means go.

Head coach Justin Roedl doesn't have a stop sign when it comes to his guards launching shots from long-range and Saturday night in the title game of the 65th annual St. Elmo Holiday Tournament, this was a fact.

Cumberland nailed down a trio of 3-point bombs in a 9-0 run to take control in the first quarter of their dominating 71-44 victory over Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg.

For the game they nailed down nine such shots as the never let the Hatchets cut into the advantage in the second half of the victory that improved the club's record at 7-2 overall.

The win marks the second consecutive season the Cumberland Pirates are the champions of the St. Elmo Holiday Tournament.

Six of the made 3-pointers came from junior guard Chase Stewart, who finished with 18-points.

Stewart was subsequently named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The other three trifectas came from classmate Cameron Roedl, as he ended up with 13-points overall.

But the key player, in the victory on Saturday was 5-10 senior guard Reed Miller.

Miller did the damage inside the arc, scoring 22-points.

“Those kids work well together and they've been playing together for so long and on any given night any of them can knock down four, five, six, seven of them,” said Coach Roedl. “The team is confident in them (3-point shots) and we don't ever tell them to stop shooting.”

Cumberland had others net points in the victory.

Senior Kaleb Bierman scored six-points in the game and three other players; senior Zack Harmon, sophomore Gavin Wormhoudt and junior Isaac Venatta score four points each.

Venatta converted a drive to the basket for a reverse lay in the first quarter that finished a 14-4 early beginning for the Pirates.

Coach Cody Drone and his Hatchets never found the groove in the title game, as they fell behind early and never put much of a dent in the Cumberland lead.

Junior guard Wyatt Wetherall led WSS with 18-points but he didn't much scoring help as the Hatchets fell to the Pirates for the second consecutive year in the championship game.

Senior Auston Rahn scored eight-points and junior Brody Bible scored seven.

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“Cumberland shot very well, props to them. The game-plan was that we didn't think we could totally match up with them man-to-man so we took our chances (mixing up defenses) and it didn't work out for us,” said Coach Drone. “They're a really good ball team. I was proud of our guys to come out in the second half down big and throw a counter punch, which was nice to see. They guys never gave up all night but we ran into a team that hit a lot of shots and we weren't hitting as many.”

Miller closed the first quarter with two scores; a drive to the goal and a transition basket off of a Hatchets' turnover for a 20-10 lead at the end of the opening frame.

The Pirates extended the halftime advantage with another big quarter.

Miller got to the goal off of a steal and was fouled by Wetherall.

The conventional three-point play pushed the lead to 13-points in the second quarter.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Stewart forced a Hatchets' timeout at 37-22 with 2:04 left.

Roedl, Venatta and Miller combined to go 6-of-8 from the free throw line before Miller closed the half with another drive down the baseline for a 45-25 halftime advantage.

Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg made a quick five-point run to start the second half.

A Wetherall 3-pointer and a score inside by Bible forced Coach Roedl to burn a timeout to get his Pirates' attention.

“Our discipline was not great tonight on the defensive end and (on the WSS runs) we gave them some easy looks and easy buckets and they took advantage,” said Coach Roedl. “Thankfully the kids rebounded back to shut down their runs. Those mistakes are something that we need to work on.”

His club responded with consecutive rebounds by Roedl, from the right corner and left wing as the Pirates maintained their double-digit lead at 55-34 heading to the fourth quarter.

Miller added six more points in the final minutes before both coached emptied their benches in the final minutes.

Cumberland ended up 25-of-53 overall and 9-of-25 from the arc.

Defensively they held the Hatchets to just 11-of-37 shooting, 2-of-13 from downtown.

WSS saw its mark slip to 6-4 on the season as they committed 18-turnovers, 11 in the first half as they fell behind early and never recovered.

“We had a productive week, we got better in a lot of different facets,” said Coach Drone. “Every game and every practice is a learning experience for us.”

HILLSBORO 63, SEB 50
The Hiltoppers (yes, it is one “L”) topped the host Eagles for the second consecutive season in the third place game of the 65th annual event.

Coach Corbin Govaia and his club took home the third place honors on the strength of 22-points from senior Tony White

Hillsboro is now 7-5 on the season.

Senior Mark Mattson scored 11-points and junior Eli Zaidi added 10 in the victory.

St. Elmo/Brownstown saw its mark slip to 6-6 for Coach Greg Feezel.

The Eagles were paced by sophomore Bentley Sanders and junior Benji Lowe with 15-points each.

Junior Graidon Wilhour added 11 for SEB.

Senior Lincoln Roberts topped the charts for Patoka/Odin with 26-points, nailing down three 3-pointers and 11-of-11 free throws, 10-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Kody Burks and senior Ben Spencer added 13 and 10-points respectively in the victory to improve the Patoka/Odin mark to 7-5.

CHBC was led by a 14-point effort by junior Griffin Vaughn and 10-points from junior Remington Howell for Coach Tanner Thompson.

MG (2-8) hit 23-of-39 free throws with senior Hagan Hinrichsmeyer connecting on 15-of-21 from the line and ended up with 31-points for the Aces (flying Aces, not playing cards) in the victory.

Three Mulberry Grove players; freshman Landen Cook, senior Lucas Epperson and sophomore Carson Caylor, scores seven-points apiece for Coach Sam Barber.

Ramsey (1-10) was led by junior Aaron Trexler with 19-points for Coach Jeff Babbs.

The Aces pulled away with a 17-6 second quarter for a 35-24 halftime lead.