An up and down season for Steelville High School boys’ basketball team came to a frustrating end on Feb. 23 when the Cardinals fell to the Laquey Hornets in the quarterfinals of the Class 3 District 8 Tournament, which is detailed below. Laquey was the fifth seed out of six teams, but had the home court advantage, and entered play with a solid 15-11 record. 

The Cardinals finished the season at 11-14, after going 15-11 last year. It was a season of peaks and valleys for a Steelville team that lost three of its first four games before picking up signature wins on Jan. 12 in Potosi (17-5) and on its Feb. 10 senior night over Belle (23-4) in overtime. 

Steelville will lose its entire starting lineup of Malakai Bruno, Jackson Woods, Landon Rutledge, Trentin Garrison and Hunter Starbeck along with sharp-shooting sixth man Nate Gambill and role player Blaze Alexander to graduation. 

Numerous parents, family members and supporters made the trek to Laquey and embraced the somber seniors following their final game. Steelville head coach Josh Pritchett gave his assessment of the season following the emotional loss. 

“I think this team definitely had some challenges this year, but I think they overcame those challenges and just got better each and every night,” Pritchett said. “Obviously it didn’t end up the way we wanted it to, but I’m just proud of their effort from start to finish.”

Pritchett finished his second year in Steelville after taking the leap from an All-American collegiate player at NAIA school Evangel University to head man for the Cardinals. He led the Cardinals to a district championship in his debut season as head coach in the 2024-2025 season and has a 26-25 record in both seasons, combined.  

Junior Will Bailey and freshman Chace Grayson are Steelville’s only returners with significant varsity experience for next year’s team and it’s expected that freshman standouts from this season’s junior varsity team: Lane West, Andy Riley, Trey Gambill, Cameron Wallis, Silas Evans and Ripken Halbert along with sophomore Jarrett West will have the opportunity to earn valuable varsity playing time next season. 

Feb. 24 vs Laquey

The Cardinals traveled to Laquey to take on the Laquey Hornets in their home gym. Steelville’s girls’ basketball team defeated Laquey the previous night in their own district tournament, and members of both teams were in attendance and channeled the intensity from their game into loud chants from the stands in support of their boys’ teams. 

The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle played with a rapid pace and Laquey was able to take an 18-14 advantage going into the second period. The Hornets stung the Cardinals with three-pointers and attacks of the rim in the second quarter, outscoring Steelville 16-9 in the frame to grow their lead to 11 points heading into halftime. 

Steelville came out of the break inspired, and were able to force Laquey turnovers that turned into transition baskets at the other end. The Cardinals dwindled their deficit down to four points before Laquey made a layup and knocked down a back-breaking buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the period to grow its lead back up to nine points going into the final quarter. 

The Cardinals didn’t go down without a fight, and outscored the Hornets in the final period. But Laquey hit timely shots every time Steelville made a run, and were able to pull away with a 62-57 win over the Cardinals to head to a district semifinal matchup versus Dixon. 

Steelville had more rebounds, assists and steals than Laquey, but the Hornets shot 57 percent from the field and 40 percent from the three-point line compared to Steelville’s 41 percent from the field and 27 percent shooting from deep, which proved to be the difference in the game. 

Pritchett applauded his team’s effort throughout the game, and gave credit to Laquey for making timely shots.

“I think our guys competed. I can’t fault them for any of that,” he said. “When it comes down to it, I think that they (Laquey) just made more shots than we did. They hit some shots that we didn’t necessarily expect them to make, and we missed some that we expected to make. So it just comes down to that.”

Malakai Bruno led the Cardinals with 16 points after making five hard-earned baskets at the rim and knocking down all six of his free throw attempts. Jackson Woods drained a pair of treys, free throws, and baskets at the rim to finish with 12 points. Hunter Starbeck scored 10 points, Landon Rutledge added eight, Trentin Garrison chipped in seven and Nate Gambill and Blaze Alexander each knocked down mid-range jump shots to finish with two points. Laquey senior Rhyder Martin netted a game-high 28 points to lead the Hornets. 

Despite the loss, Pritchett said that he was proud of how his senior-led team competed until the final buzzer.

“I think all of these guys, especially the seniors, just wanted to fight back,” Pritchett said. “They’re a tough group, and they would not lie down and just give it to anybody. So I was proud of their effort, their intensity, for sure.”