The St. James High boys’ basketball team opened its Four Rivers Conference schedule by splitting a pair of games last week.

The Tigers opened league play by crushing New Haven 67-22 at home Tuesday, Dec. 16. And they were beaten at Union 58-52 Friday, Dec. 19.

That left STJ 4-4 overall.

St. James now breaks for the holidays and is scheduled to return to action Jan. 2 by hosting California, starting at 5 p.m. with a freshman game followed by the junior varsity and varsity contests.

Dec. 19 - Union 58, STJ 52: The game was close throughout despite early foul trouble for the Tigers, with St. James taking a 15-14 lead after the first period and Union tying it up 29-29 by halftime. Senior guard Aiden Boone fired in 11 points over the first two quarters for STJ.

Behind junior Cameron Servais’ seven points and junior Reid Rogers’ two 3-pointers the Union Wildcats, now 6-2, outscored the Tigers 17-14 over the third period to take a 46-43 edge into the fourth quarter.

Union would hold on, as Servais hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final period.

Boone fired in 18 points while sophomore guard Isaac Smith added 15 for St. James.

Boone shot 18 free throws, second most in a single-game in program history and the most since head coach Ben Smith did it as a player in 1995. Smith had four steals and three assists while Boone, senior JV Meurer and junior Jaxen Spurgeon each had four rebounds.

Four Wildcats scored in double figures - Rogers 15 points, senior Tucker Mabe 14, Servais 13 and junior Blake Siess 10.

St. James won the junior varsity game 53-26. Junior Westin Ridenhour had 12 points, junior Tripp Jones 11 and sophomore Dom Giacolone 10 points for the Tiger JV squad.

Varsity

The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):

St. James (4-4, 1-1): Boone 3-11-18, Gruver 3-0-8, Gleason 2-0-4, Smith 6-1-15, J. Spurgeon 3-0-7, Totals 17-12-52.

Union (6-2, 2-0): Brown 3-0-6, Mabe 6-2-14, Rogers 5-1-15, Siess 5-0-10, Servais 3-7-13, Totals 22-10-58.

The score by periods:

St. James 15 14 14   9-52

Union      14 15 17 12-58

Junior Varsity

St. James: Driskell 1-0-2, Ridenhour 5-2-12, O. Spurgeon 2-2-6, Jones 4-2-11, Huffman 2-0-4, Jenkins 1-0-2, Byfield 2-0-4, Recker 2-0-4, Giacolone 4-2-10.

Union: Curnutte 3-2-11, Pelikan 2-0-5, Wideman 1-0-3, Crawford 3-1-7.

Dec. 16 - STJ 67, New Haven 22: The Tigers opened league play with an easy win over the New Haven Shamrocks.

St. James senior guard Tate Gruver put his name in the Tiger record book by scoring the 1,000th point of his career. Gruver joins his brother, Peyton, as the only brother combo to be in the Tiger 1,000-point club. There have only been nine players since 1980 to score 1,000 career points..

Tate Gruver needed 17 points to reach 1,000 and scored his 18th Tuesday with a minute left in the third period.

The outcome was in little doubt, as New Haven simply did not have the offense to keep up with the Tigers. The Shamrocks scored just 11 points in each half.

STJ roared out to a 15-6 lead after the first period. Gruver fired in six points in the second quarter to help St. James build a 32-11 advantage by halftime.

Six different Tigers scored in the third period as St. James put things away by outscoring New Haven 25-6 and taking a 57-17 cushion into the fourth quarter.

Gruver finished with 18 points to pace a balanced STJ attack while senior guard Nick Gleason added 10.

Gruver also had four steals while Boone and Smith had four assists and three steals each and J. Spurgeon grabbed five rebounds while Meurer and junior forward Karsten Driskell had four each.

The Tigers won the junior varsity game 64-16. Easton Huffman led the STJ JV squad with 16 points while Giacolone added 14 and Ryder Byfield 10.

The score by periods:

Varsity

St. James: Boone 4-1-9, Gruver 8-2-18, Gleason 4-2-10, Smith 4-1-9, Martin 1-0-2, Ridenhour 2-0-4, O. Spurgeon 1-0-2, J. Spurgeon 3-2-9, Perkins 1-0-2, Jones 1-0-2, Totals 29-8-67.

New Haven (2-6): Gildehaus 5-1-12, Hecktor 0-2-2, E. Cargill 1-0-2, Groner 2-2-6, Totals 8-5-22.

The score by periods:

New Haven    6   5   6   5-22

St. James      15 17 25 10-67

Junior Varsity

St. James: Ridenhour 2-0-4, O. Spurgeon 2-0-4, Jones 3-0-7, Huffman 7-1-16, Jenkins 2-0-4, Byfield 4-0-10, Brown 1-0-2, Recker 1-0-3, Giacolone 6-0-14, Totals 28-1-64.

New Haven: Scheer 0-2-2, Baker 1-0-2, Detterman 4-0-9, Eastham 0-1-1, Evans 1-0-2, Totals 5-3-16.