Three dominating victories allowed the top-seeded St. James High boys’ basketball team to capture the Hermann Invitational last week.

The surging Tigers mauled eighth-seeded Wright City 68-23 Wednesday, Jan. 28 in the first round and whipped fifth-seeded Warrenton 66-46 Thursday, Jan. 29 in semifinal action. And in the championship game Saturday, Jan. 31 the Tigers drubbed second-seeded Belle 62-36.

It was the eighth win in St. James’ last nine games and improved the Tigers’ record to 13-6, with three of those losses coming to state-ranked opponents (Class 1 No. 1 Bunker, Class 6 No. 6 Rolla twice) and another to an opponent who has received state-ranking votes (Potosi).

The tournament was backed up a couple days due to the weather.

Senior guard Nick Gleason was named the tournament’s MVP for St. James. Other Tiger players selected to the all-tournament team were sophomore guard Isaac Smith on the first team and senior guard Tate Gruver on the second team.

“I thought the guys played really well (last) week, especially defensively,” said St. James head coach Ben Smith. “They’re doing a great job of communicating and helping each other; trapping and then rotating out of traps. It’s exciting to watch. Their effort has been relentless.

“Offensively they’re moving the ball extremely well and doing a great job finding the open man and making the extra pass. They’re working really hard to keep improving.”

This week the Tigers to host Licking Monday and Newburg Tuesday before resuming Four Rivers Conference play Friday, Feb. 6 at Pacific (freshman game 4 p.m., junior and varsity games to follow).

Hermann Invitational

Jan. 31, Championship Game - STJ 62, Belle 36: St. James handed Belle just its third loss of the season.

The game was tied after one quarter, as senior guard Aiden Boone hit a shot at the buzzer, then St. James took the lead for good in the second period, as Smith netted eight points and Gruver seven, helping STJ head into intermission up 29-20.

And St. James pulled away in the second half by outscoring Belle 18-9 in the third period and 15-7 in the fourth quarter.

Gruver hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points with three steals and three assists for STJ while Smith added 19 points with seven steals and nine assists and Gleason 13 and junior forward Jaxen Spurgeon blocked four shots and grabbed seven rebounds.

Belle committed 24 turnovers.

Senior Garrett Gehlert led Belle with 10 points.

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

St. James (13-6): Boone 2-2-6, Gruver 8-0-20, Gleason 6-1-13, Smith 8-1-19, J. Spurgeon 1-2-4, Totals 25-6-62.

Belle (18-3): Struemph 1-0-3, Gehlert 2-5-10, Elrod 3-0-6, Stratman 2-3-7, Rohrer 1-0-2, Willis 3-2-8, Totals 12-10-36.

The score by periods:

Belle        12   8   9   7-36

St. James 12 17 18 15-62

Jan. 29, Semifinals - STJ 66, Warrenton 46: After a competitive first half the Tigers took control with a dominant third quarter. After taking a 9-2 lead to start things, STJ led 14-12 after the first period and took a 29-26 edge into halftime.

The Tigers’ trapping defense shut down the Warrenton Warriors in the third quarter. St. James outscored Warrenton 18-5 to take a 47-31 advantage into the fourth period. Gleason tallied six points in the fourth quarter to help STJ hold its comfortable lead.

Four Tigers scored in double figures, as Gleason netted 19 points, Gruver 14, Smith 12 and J. Spurgeon 11 points and five boards.

Senior Brodey Meier led Warrenton with 17.

The individual scoring:

St. James: Boone 2-0-4, Gruver 5-3-14, Gleason 8-1-19, Smith 4-3-12, Bell 1-0-2, Meurer 2-0-4, J. Spurgeon 4-3-11, Totals 26-10-66.

Warrenton (7-11): Martin 2-0-5, Forrest 2-3-7, Sanders 4-1-11, Meier 8-1-17, Anderson 3-0-6, Totals 19-5-46.

The score by periods:

Warrenton 12 14    5 15-46

St. James   14 15 18 19-66

Jan. 28, First Round - STJ 68, Wright City 23: It was all Tigers from the start. The Wright City Wildcats were shut out over the first quarter, with Boone firing in eight points as STJ took a 23-0 cushion into the second quarter. St. James outscored Wright City 18-8 the rest of the half to take a 41-8 halftime advantage.

After each team scored 11 points in the third period, St. James completed the blowout with 16 fourth-quarter points.

Gleason led St. James with 15 points while Gruver added 13 points and Boone 12.

The Tigers made 24 steals and forced Wright City into 33 turnovers.

The individual scoring:

St. James: Boone 6-0-12, Gruver 6-0-13, Gleason 6-1-15, Smith 4-0-8, Bell 2-0-4, Martin 1-0-3, Driskell 1-0-2, Ridenhour 2-0-4, O. Spurgeon 1-0-2, Meurer 0-2-2, J. Spurgeon 0-1-1, Totals

Wright City (3-14): Pilcher 3-0-6, Humphreys 0-1-1, Schulte 1-0-3, LeNoir 1-0-2, Windmann 1-0-2, Green 1-0-2, Grant Lehmen 3-1-7, Totals 10-2-23.

The score by periods:

Wright City    0   8 11   4-23

St. James      23 18 11 16-68