Observations from rivalry-filled week of Boone County High School Boys Basketball

As the regular season comes to a close, Columbia's Class 6 programs try to finish strong before Districts.

This past week saw the annual Providence Bowl on the basketball court while the county's top 10 programs faced off against each other. Tolton hit a bump in the road, but still had positive moments with a talented roster.

Here's three observations from this past week of Boone County High School boys basketball:

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Rock Bridge collects statement wins

Rock Bridge didn't enter last week ranked like its Class 6 crosstown rivals Battle and Hickman, but nevertheless the Bruins are a tough team to beat under head coach Jim Scanlon.

The Kewpies found that out on Feb. 13 as behind Brady Davidson's double-double of 14 points and 14 assists Rock Bridge knocked off Hickman by a score of 62-46. Dylan Davis added 15 more points for the Bruins.

Three days later on the road at Pembroke Hill, the Bruins defense again stiffened another opponent as the Raiders were limited to just 42 points. Rock Bridge tallied 63 with 24 from 6-foot-7 forward Will Priest. The Bruins will have an opportunity to make it four straight victories as they'll face Battle on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Avenging defeat to the Bruins, Hickman uses a massive first half run to take down Battle

Rock Bridge left a bad taste in Hickman's mouth and the Kewpies wanted to rebound quickly as it faced Battle in a top 10 matchup.

"Tuesday we just didn't play like ourselves," said Hickman junior Brock Camp on the Kewpies matchup against Rock Bridge. "We we're being really soft, just letting them do whatever they wanted to us."

It was a complete polar opposite result on Friday as Hickman defeated the Spartans 51-42 at home. The Kewpies featured double-digit scoring efforts from Camp, Isaiah Bonaparte, and Langston Stroupe. Hickman used a 26-4 run to end the first half to build a 10-point halftime lead over Battle that helped keep it at arms length in a cross-town victory.

"We came out and showed that we were the bigger dog," Camp said.

Hickman fell the next day to Vashon, the top ranked team in Class 4, but has an opportunity to rebound in its regular season finale at Ft. Zumwalt North.

For Battle, head coach Ben Pallardy wants his team to better when a big opportunity presents itself, which will be key as it travels to Rock Bridge.

"We need to be mentally sharper going into these big games with these big crowds," Pallardy said. "We didn't play our game, we didn't play to our strengths, we didn't do a lot of things that we have been doing all year to be successful."

Tolton's Wilson shines against the No. 2 team in the state

Tolton is a Class 4 program, but its schedule is tough. After beating the No. 1 team in Class 6, the Trailblazers turned around four days later to face St. Francis Borgia, the No. 2 team in Class 4.

The third-ranked Trailblazers fell to the Knights 66-61 but a silver lining is the impressive performance of Zay Wilson. The junior guard tallied 25 points for Tolton including knocking down 4-of-6 3-point attempts. A 3-star player, Wilson currently holds offers from Austin Peay, Bryant, Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State, Southern Illinois and St. Louis.

Tolton rebounded on the road with a 61-53 victory over the Miller Career Academy. Wilson and Blake Pingeton led the way with 16 points each while Will Fretwell added 13 of his own. The Trailblazers final regular season game comes against a 24-0 Sikeston team.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Observations from a rivalry-filled week of Boone County High School Boys Basketball