Bishop LeBlond advances in Class 3 District 15 Tournament with game-winning shot
Feb. 20—On Tuesday, it was the boys' turn in classes 1-3, as Missouri High School District Basketball Tournaments got underway. The first contest of the night featured the fifth-seeded Mid-Buchanan Dragons and the four-seeded Bishop LeBlond Golden Eagles.
The first quarter was slow paced, as the Eagles got a handful of points from the free-throw point line. LeBlond was able to tie the game at six, before Golden Eagles' Cooper Waterman took the lead with a drive to the paint and a finish at the rim. The Dragons would get two-points before the end of the quarter, resulting in a 8-8 tie.
The second quarter was back-and-forth, but the quarter began with Dragons' Jackson Sauvage using a turnover to race down the court for a lay-up to regain the lead.
As the teams were trading baskets, the ball would be in Waterman's hands and he'd go back-and-forth dribbling before heaving up a prayer beyond the 3-point line that would find the bottom of the basket. The Dragons would go into halftime still with the 23-21 lead.
Mid-Buch came out of the halftime break energized, as Chris Kowalewycz was working down in the paint and teammate Aiden Admire would match the points downlow, and the Dragons jumped out to a 32-29 lead.
It would be Waterman again with the ball in his hands as time was winding down in the third quarter, as he was falling to his left as he let the ball out of hands beyond the 3-point line, and it would cash in as the fourth quarter started in a 32-32 tie.
In the fourth and a four point LeBlond lead, Mid-Buchanan put on a full court press, which would result in two turnovers. One turnover led to Dragons' Ian Wagenka being fouled on a shot, resulting in two made free-throws to tie the game at 44 apiece.
While you might have guessed the last shot would come in the hands of Waterman, it would LeBlond junior Gannon Sowell who was able to pick the ball off the ground, and had to heave a shot that would see the lights behind the basket light up as the ball traveled for the net, resulting in a game winner.
Bishop LeBlond won their opening Class 3 District 15 match-up against Mid-Buchanan, 46-44 on Sowell's game winner. For the Golden Eagles, Sowell led the team with 15 points, and Mid-Buch's ian wagenka had 12.
LeBlond will face KIPP KC Legacy on Thursday at 6 p.m. at East Buchanan High School.
"It found me, and I just shot it. I was hyped to advance to the next game, yeah," Sowell said.
"Gannon kind of bailed us out there late. I mean, he shot it well all night, super proud of that kid," head coach Mitch Girres said. " We had to talk about it, like his shot selection earlier this week, and I thought he took a lot of really good shots. You could tell kind of when it left his hands, that he had a chance and it looked good. So, I mean, I'm super happy for him because he's such a good kid and he works really hard and just just really proud of him."
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
