Lutheran South’s Rally Falls Short in Southside Semifinal Against SLUH

MEHLVILLE – After leading at halftime and pulling ahead in the third quarter Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Southside Classic, the small-school upstart Lutheran South boys basketball team was in good shape to pull off an early-season upset against large-school power Saint Louis University High School.

The Lancers led the Jr. Billikens 46-37 halfway through the third quarter, and just needed to somehow maintain their previous strong play to pull off a big early-season win.

Unfortunately, SLUH’s poise and experience proved to be the proper tonic, as the Jr. Bills rallied back to tie, then pulled away in the fourth quarter, for a 78-64 win over the Lancers.

“Teams go on runs,” Lutheran South head coach Brian Lind said. “We went on a run to get the lead. They dealt with it. And then they came back on a run on us, and I felt like we didn’t deal with it as well as they did.”

Indeed they didn’t, as the Lancers lost their lead and trailed by a point by the end of the third quarter, then saw SLUH go on an 11-0 run to start the fourth, that allowed the Jr. Bills to lead by 12, with less than five minutes left in the game.

“What you hope is that we can take this game and learn from it,” Lind said. “We don’t have a lot of guys with a lot of floor experience. Hopefully, what we can do is take the good things and remember them, and take the good things and try to learn from them.”

SLUH built its lead to as many as 18 points, before a pair of three-pointers by senior Alex Platipodis and a series of free throws by fellow senior Jim Hudson cut the deficit to nine, with 1:06 left in the game.

But that was as close as the Lancers would get, as SLUH made six free throws in the final minute to close out the game.

Four Lutheran South players scored in double-figures in the game, including Hudson, who led all scorers with 21 points. Teammates Parker Van Nest, Brendan Kurtz, and Platipodis had 13, 10, and 10 points, respectively.

“Jimmy had a good night,” Lind said. “Clearly, he’s the guy for us that wants the ball and has the most experience. He’s been starting for us for four years, and on a night like tonight, when things get a little hairy for us, that experience shows through.”

Lutheran South is now 1-1 on the season, and will play in the Southside Classic’s third-place game, Friday night, at 6:30 p.m., at Mehlville High, against St. Mary’s, in Wednesday’s other semifinal game. 

“We’ve played them a few times through the years,” Lind said. “That’s going to be a real tough game. Should be a real good game.”