Oakville Boys Jump to Early Lead to Defeat Rival Mehlville

The second game of the district rivalry meeting of the night was a reverse of the first. The boys jumped to a 21-5 first period lead over , and held it to the end, winning 58-45. The Mehlville .

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Oakville head coach Nick Traxler said the Mehlville-Oakville rivalry is always vicious, and he loves it.

“It’s great for our district to have that,” he said. “Andy (Guethle) does such a good job with those guys, and we knew it was so important to come out strong. I thought we had a good first quarter, and that set the tone for our kids’ confidence.”

Mehlville head coach Andy Guethle said his team was caught off-guard.

“I thought the first half we could have done a better job focusing and not let the moment catch us by,” he said.

Six-foot-ten Oakville sophomore Austin Gillman started his night with six points, and sophomore Ervin Sarajlic had five in the first period. Sarajlic was the team and game-high scorer with 22 on the night.

Oakville led at the half 32-18.

The third quarter was all Gillman, scoring 11, as Mehlville was held to six. Panther senior Aaron Onkle started the fourth with a field goal and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. He was team-high for Mehlville with 14.

Panther junior Demarcus Travis didn’t let up in the end, dropping two field goals, a 3-pointer, and going 2-for-2 from the foul line—the last points of the game.

“They jumped out to us, and they’re a good team, we couldn’t cut into the lead,” Guethle said. “We cut into it a little bit. Cut into it late.” He said the game was closer in the end than the score indicated.

“I just wish our kids would just believe in themselves a little bit more,” he said, “and believe in our system a little bit more.”

Oakville’s win leaves them at 7-14 (4-2 conference). The Tiger’s next game is at Marquette (11-10, 1-4 in conference) on Friday.

Mehlville will host Northwest (4-17, 0-5 in conference) on Friday.