Zumwalt South Picks Up First Win Against Ritenour

The Fort Zumwalt South Bulldogs basketball team had few problems with the Ritenour Huskies last night in the first round of the St. Charles West Warrior Classic at St. Charles West High School.   

The Bulldogs improved to 1-1 on the young season with the 58-37 win over the Huskies (0-1). South wasted little time in establishing a lead.

Marcus Lemasters nailed a trey at the 5:43 mark in the first quarter to make the score 7-2 South. The Bulldogs led 16-5 at the end of the first quarter and 32-14 at halftime. 

The Huskies showed some life early in the third quarter. Antonio Bennett’s 3-pointer at the 7:33 mark ignited a 5-0 run which made the score 32-19. But Ritenour couldn’t sustain the momentum and South led 47-23 at the end of the third quarter.

Although South dominated the game, the Bulldogs committed 21 turnovers. 

“We played some good defense and I thought we rebounded really well,” South coach Bill Friedel said. “That led to most of our success in the break but he didn’t get to the free throw line enough and we turned the ball over too much.” 

Three Bulldogs finished the contest with double digit points. Preston Whitfield led the way with 12 points and Jon Cook and Luke Allison had 10 points apiece. Neither Allison nor Whitfield started the game. Allison and Whitfield’s offense was essential, as George Cater, South’s top scorer, didn’t play much of the second quarter. He had his third foul called against him three minutes into the second quarter. Cater finished the contest with eight points. 

“Our bench is pretty good, I have some guys who can score off of the bench,” Friedel said. “One is a freshman (Whitfield) and the other a senior (Allison) but he’s been hurt the last two seasons. He had two knee surgeries and he hasn’t played since his freshman year.”  

Bennett led Ritenour’s offense with nine points. Huskies coach Jason Graves felt his team was on edge because many of his players were playing their first varsity game. 

“It was a lot of our guys’ first varsity game,” he said. “They were a little intimidated and were antsy about getting out there and playing. We had a hard time of turning our offense over and making something happen after three or four passes. They did a good job of guarding us and keeping us from penetrating.”