Notebook Entry: Marquette Boys' First District Title in 15 Years

It will most likely be the lowest scoring boys basketball district championship played in Missouri this season, but that matters very little to Marquette.

The Mustangs, behind 6-foot-9 junior center Ryan Rosburg, defeated top-seeded Parkway South, 30-28, in the Class 5 District 4 title game at Lafayette High School on Friday night. Rosburg scored 14 points, including the tiebreaking basket with seven seconds left, to down the Patriots (21-6).

The Mustangs won their three district games by a combined eight points.

For Marquette (18-10) coach Shane Matzen and his seniors, the win had increased satisfaction given that the third-seeded Mustangs had lost three straight district title games. It is Marquette’s first district title in 15 years.

The Mustangs will play next Wednesday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 6 p.m. against Chaminade, the top-ranked team in Missouri.

In the opening round of the district tourney at Lafayette, Marquette slipped by Summit, 50-48, before defeating the host school 50-46 on Wednesday.   

In contrast to the three tight games the boys played, the Marquette girls opened district play with a resounding 52-20 win over Summit. However, the Mustangs lost to second-seeded Lafayette, 67-47, in the district semifinals to end their season at 17-10.

The district semifinal loss to Marquette left the Lafayette boys team with a final mark of 18-8, which included an 8-1 record in the Suburban West Conference. The Lancers were 17-11 one year ago. They had won 11 straight games before the season-ending loss to a Marquette team that Lafayette had defeated, 46-34, on Jan. 14.

The Lancers were led this season by junior guard Joel Pennington and senior forward Aareon Smith. The duo combined for 57 percent of the team’s scoring as Pennington averaged 14.9 points and Smith 14.8 points per game. Pennington had 74 made 3s to lead Lafayette while Smith averaged a team-best 8.5 rebounds.

The Lafayette girls captured the Class 5 District 4 district championship on Friday night, and Ballwin-Ellisville Patch was on the scene. Lafayette junior guard Ashley Hipp scored a game-high 17 points to lift the Lancers to a 51-36 home win over Eureka. For full information and photos, .

Both the JFK boys and girls teams are set to begin district basketball play this week. The boys are 4-20 and finished with 1-11 league mark in the AAA Conference. The Celts hope to snap an eight-game losing streak when they play St. Pius X (17-7) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Crystal City in the Class 3 District 4 tourney.

The Kennedy girls will be in action on Monday night in their opening district game, playing Bayless at 7 p.m. in Crystal City. JFK is led by senior Paige Stewart’s 17.1 points and 5.1 steals per game.

It is certainly not the ending that the six Parkway West seniors envisioned coming into this season. However, after Monday’s 56-45 loss to Eureka in the first round of the Class 5 District 4 tournament, this season came to a sudden conclusion for the Longhorns.

Led by all-conference 6-foot-6 forward Larry Toomey, new Parkway West coach John Wright had hoped for better given that the Longhorns had a record of 23-7 two seasons ago, and 21-7 in the 2009-10 season. They finished at 12-14 this season, including a 4-3 mark in the Suburban South Conference. Toomey led the team with averages of 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He also leads Parkway West with 42 blocks and 41 steals this season.

Toomey became the seventh player in Longhorns history to reach 1,000 career points during their game on Feb. 2 against Fort Zumwalt West. This group of seniors was coached by the school’s all-time wins, Bill Sodemann, in their first three seasons, but he retired after last season

The Parkway West girls team also lost in its first district game, falling 62-27 to Parkway South. The Longhorns finished 5-21, including 3-4 in league play. Senior forward Maggie Wenstrup led the team with 14.9 points, 9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

In case you missed our story recapping Parkway West’s state swimming championship, please .