Steelville High School boys’ basketball team played in St. James on Jan. 9 on courtwarming night for the Tigers. The Cardinals lost a close, physical game, which is detailed below.

Steelville (4-7) played on Jan. 12 on the road against an 11-1 Potosi team, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. The Cardinals will return home on Jan. 14 to take on St. Clair for Steelville’s first home game in almost two months. Steelville will then host its courtwarming game on Jan. 16 against Owensville. The Cardinals junior varsity team will play at 5:30 and ceremonies will take place after the final buzzer of that game, in between the start of the varsity game. Steelville will compete in the St. James invitational tournament beginning at 8 p.m. on Jan. 19 with a rematch against St. James. The rest of the Cardinals’ tournament schedule is TBD based on the results against St. James.

Jan. 9 vs. St. James

The Cardinals started slow in St. James against a fired up St. James Tigers team and senior Tate Gruver, who was named courtwarming king. After both teams traded buckets to start, the Tigers gained control and took a 16-5 lead heading into the second quarter. St. James’ lead ballooned to 17 points before Steelville drained a pair of free throws to go into halftime trailing 31-16.

But Josh Pritchett’s bunch responded to his halftime speech and came out with tenacious energy to get back in the game. The Cardinals went on a 10-3 run to start the third frame and brought it to within eight points with 2:52 remaining. St. James head coach Ben Smith called timeout and the Tigers regrouped and took a 39-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was filled with physical play on both sides as both coaches questioned foul calls and emotions grew high. St. James began the final frame on a 6-0 run to bring its lead back up to 16 points. The resilient Cardinals fought back again, and brought it back down to a six-point deficit after senior Nate Gambill netted a three-pointer with 2:34 remaining. But that would be the last time that Steelville would score, as foul trouble on the other end would take them out of their rhythm. St. James hit free throws when they needed them most, and pulled away with a 51-41 victory.

Malakai Bruno saw double teams and harassing defense throughout the evening, and had to earn his team-high 12 points. Gambill drained a trio of long-range shots to finish with nine points. Landon Rutledge knocked down a pair of threes and a close-range shot to end the night with eight points. Hunter Starbeck scored all seven of his points in the second half and picked up multiple blocks on the defensive end. Jackson Woods scored four and Chace Grayson scored one to round out the scoring for the Cardinals. The courtwarming king, Gruver scored a game-high 15 points and sophomore Issac Smith added 11 points for the Tigers. Steelville’s JV team lost 61-22 after the Cardinals’ freshman team picked up a 40-32 victory in the first matchup of the evening.