Oakville beats Parkway West in Class 5 quarterfinal

NORMANDY — Oakville was a surprise Class 5 final-four participant a year ago after beating Hazelwood Central in the quarterfinals.

This season, the Tigers are heading back to Columbia as one of the favorites to win the state championship after defeating Parkway West 53-35 in the quarterfinals Saturday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for their 16th consecutive victory.

“It’s a different feeling winning today, just because last year everybody didn’t think we were going to win it,” Oakville senior forward Garrett Reeg said. “We believe in ourselves. We were pretty confident coming into this game. I don’t think we’re done.”

Oakville (26-4) will play either Webster Groves (27-2) or CBC (21-8) in the Class 5 semifinals at 6:50 p.m. Thursday at Mizzou Arena. Oakville defeated Webster Groves 71-69 on Feb. 1.

“This group, they persevered through a lot of things,” Oakville coach Nick Traxler said. “We have a lot of guys that can do a lot of things. It’s just fun watching them play.”

Senior guard Toraino Hellems led Oakville with a game-high 20 points on seven-of-eight shooting. Junior guard Javier Duren scored 14, including three 3-pointers, and Reeg added 13 points and six rebounds. Senior forward Joe Plassmeyer grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

Senior guard Patrick Sodemann led Parkway West (21-7) with 12 points on six-of-13 shooting. Junior guard Charles Thomas added eight points.

“They are an awfully good basketball team,” said Parkway West coach Bill Sodemann, who is retiring after 22 years as the Longhorns’ coach. “They’ve got enough talent to win the state championship, and I know there are a lot of other good teams around here. I was really impressed with how well they played.”

After the game, Sodemann was asked to sum up an impressive coaching career that included winning the state championship in 1991 and back-to-back berths in the quarterfinals in his final two seasons.

“I think the fact that we don’t have a whole lot of Division I athletes running around at our school, what we’ve been able to accomplish I think is a credit to the kids and their coachability, to our staff and the preparation,” he said.

Springfield Hillcrest 60, Holt 48 — After winning three previous playoff games by a total of four points, Holt’s run came to a halt in a Class 5 quarterfinal loss at Missouri S&T in Rolla.

After Hillcrest (23-7) built a 27-12 halftime lead, Holt (22-8) cut the margin to two at 32-30 with 1½ minutes to play in the third quarter. But the Hornets held on, converting 18 of 19 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Junior standout Dantiel Daniels led the Indians with 10 points and eight rebounds.