The St. Louis U. High basketball team suffered a crushing defeat last Friday night at Chaminade, falling 60-48 to the Red Devils, and they dropped their following contest at CBC 64-45.

Despite the final score, SLUH came out scorching hot, leading the Red Devils 15-5 early, and 17-9 at the end of the first quarter. 

“We came out strong playing really hard,” senior Nick Kramer said. “Things were going our way.” 

The Jr. Billikens looked like they were en route to doing the unthinkable: beating Chaminade twice in one season. Back on Dec. 21, SLUH notched their first victory over the Red Devils in five years, a 65-57 win by virtue of Kramer’s 34 points. 

Since then, Chaminade has caught fire, winning eight games in a row and 11 of their last 12, so they wasted no time putting the pressure right back on the Jr. Bills. 

They started hitting shots and were able to control the flow of the game a bit more in the second quarter, but a clutch 3-pointer as time in the first half expired from senior Jaden McClain gave the Jr. Billikens a 29-24 lead.

Chaminade is known for bringing a balanced attack to the table on a game-to-game basis, but on Friday, and in the second half especially, they were led by senior Filip Sinobad, a 6-foot-7 forward from Serbia. Sinobad finished the contest with 20 points, as he was able to show off his mid-range prowess. 

The Red Devils clawed their way to their first lead of the game at the tail end of the third quarter, a 43-41 advantage, but the Jr. Bills were able to knock down another three-pointer as the clock wound down, this time from sophomore Charlie Isom-McCall. 

The momentum from Isom-McCall’s shot could not be sustained in the final quarter, though. 

Chaminade opened up with  a 7-0 run in the first three minutes and change of the final quarter, before coach Erwin Clagget called a timeout with 4:55 to go in the game. 

Out of the timeout, SLUH controlled the possession for nearly two minutes, but were stymied by Chaminade’s suffocating defense, and were ultimately unable to score on the trip. 

Sinobad knocked down another jump shot to extend the Red Devils’ lead to 8 and diminish any hopes of a Jr. Bill victory. 

The SLUH offense struggled in the fourth quarter, as they were outscored by 13 in the closing quarter, a recipe for disaster.

“In the fourth quarter it was the opposite,” Kramer said. “We were tired and didn’t run our plays right. We only scored four points in the fourth.”

The Jr. Bills didn’t have anybody jump out on the stat sheet, but they were led by solid performances all around. Kramer finished with 12 points, junior Zach Ortwerth dropped in 10 points and snagged 6 boards, McClain filled the statsheet with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals, and junior AJ Walker Jr. concluded with 12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, and senior Kevin Hogan added 5 blocks.. 

Chaminade, the No. 1 team in the area, dropped the Jr. Bills to 15-5 record and their second loss in their last three games. 

Last night, the Jr. Bills lost last night at Bommarito Gym against the CBC Cadets. The Cadets got out to a fast 14-3 start, but the Junior Bills were able to get back in the game, and played the remainder of the first half evenly, going into the locker room down 29-25. 

Yet, SLUH couldn’t sustain their offensive output, and CBC was able to extend the lead and put the game away, victorious by a score of 64-45.

SLUH will wrap up the regular season with a home rematch at 6 p.m. at home against the De Smet Spartans, a team they lost to 74-58 back on Jan. 12. Both teams will be looking for some much needed momentum before Districts kick off a week from Saturday. 

“Obviously we want to be playing our best when districts come and we want to beat CBC and De Smet to have a chance to win our conference,” said Kramer. “These next two games are gonna be a really fun way to end the regular season.”