Tigers secure share of first Sub West crown
The Oakville boys basketball team opened this season with a laundry list of goals.
Friday night it accomplished a big one.
The Tigers secured a share of their first Suburban West Conference championship by taking out Parkway South 70-63.
It’s the ninth consecutive win and its 12th in the last 13 games for Oakville (19-4 overall, 8-0 league).
Friday’s victory is the perfect bookend to a week that began with a thrilling two-point win over top-ranked Webster Groves.
Unbeaten at its place with only next Tuesday’s game against Jackson remaining on the home slate, Oakville is charging toward the postseason.
“All of the hard work is starting to culminate,” Oakville coach Nick Traxler said.
The Tigers were able to lock down Friday’s win despite Toraino Hellems’ first half foul trouble and Josh Noblitt getting his face cracked open in the second quarter.
With the starting senior backcourt on the bench, Oakville continued to hound Parkway South (15-7, 5-1) defensively.
“We have a decent amount of depth,” Traxler said. “We have a bunch of guys who understand their roles.”
Down two to open the second half, the Tigers took a nine point lead into the fourth quarter and extended it. Oakville controlled the glass and was able to get quality looks off its defensive pressure.
But those looks didn’t come easy.
Parkway South protected the rim with hard fouls that sent several Oakville players sprawling. It wasn’t cheap or dirty but it was hard.
To their credit, the Tigers got up, dusted themselves off and went back to work.
“I thought our guys handled it well,” Traxler said. “Mitch (Stevens) does a good job over there (at Parkway South). They were just playing hard.”
No one owned the paint more than Oakville senior post Garrett Reeg. The man in the middle scored 19 points and hauled in nine rebounds. He even displayed some handles when Parkway South extended its defense to try and create turnovers.
Hellems would finish with 15 points and hit nine of his 10 free throws. Noblitt chipped in 12 despite a laceration above his right eye.
Parkway South got 17 points out of senior guard Demeco Young. Senior standouts Scott and Kevin Pohle battled foul trouble all night and were never able to get into a rhythm. Kevin finished with 10 points as did junior center Tommy Holaway.
After a week that featured home wins against the state’s top-ranked team and a league rival, Oakville is due a day or two to sit around and enjoy some football. But there is still work to be done. The Tigers return to action Tuesday at Edwardsville then there’s next week’s home game against Jackson, the season finale at Kirkwood and the district tournament.
The Tigers have a pretty lengthy To Do list. But Friday night they crossed off a big one.
dkvidahl@yourjournal.com
