The Stoutland Tigers will join the Richland Lady Bears as the second Frisco League representative in the Missouri Class 2 quarterfinals in Jefferson City this weekend, but their 69-56 win over Sedalis Sacred Heart in Wednesday night's sectional shouldn't have been this hard.
Stoutland (28-2), up by 22 with only five minutes left in the game, suffered a barrage of turnovers and three-point shots from the Gremlins’ Jacob Harlan. All of a sudden, the lead was down to 11 with just over two minutes remaining.
With 1:30 left, Sacred Heart’s Jared Dey stole a pass off the inbound and made the layup, this time cutting the lead to 62-56.
But the Gremlins couldn’t score again and the Tigers pulled out the victory.
Travis Miller led the way for the Tigers with 29 points. Tyler Hooker had a big game off the bench, scoring 16, while Jacob Stephens added 10.
Sacred Heart (22-6) was led by Harlan, who scored 15 points, including three three-pointers to help lead the late Gremlin comeback. Dylan Young added 13, Dey scored nine and Chris Portoff eight.
Stoutland moves on to face Wellston-Eskridge in the quarterfinal round at 2:45 p.m. this Saturday.
Eskridge, playing its final basketball season before being consolidated into another St. Louis school district, defeated Louisiana 71-55 Wednesday night.
The Trojans are 17-10.
