‘Dogs fall, Eagles fly in final day of Sparta tourney

Waterloo’s Dustin Crawford goes up for a basket Saturday against Sparta. (John Spytek photo)

The Sparta Mid-Winter Classic came to a close Saturday with both the Waterloo and Columbia boys basketball teams in action.

Waterloo (9-14) traded baskets with the tourney host school in the third place game and was tied 32-32 at halftime before Sparta took charge late and won, 76-64.

Sparta went up by as much as 15 points in the second half but Waterloo battled back to cut the lead to just five with under a minute to play. Sparta went 8-of-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the win, however.

Ty Lenhardt led Waterloo with 22 points. Austin Balabas added 14 points.

Columbia (12-8) closed out Sparta tourney play with wins Friday and Saturday.

Behind a career-high 38 points from Jackson Holmes, the Eagles won 76-61 over Steeleville on Friday. He also grabbed 12 rebounds in the victory. Sam Horner added 15 points and eight rebounds.

On Saturday, Columbia won 51-36 over Trico in the fifth place game. The Eagles shot 56.4 percent from the floor and were led once again by Holmes, who scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Jacob O’Connor added 14 points.

Columbia hosts Salem in Tuesday.

For a recap of earlier Sparta tourney action, click here.

In other local hoops action, Gibault (3-16) lost 57-40 to Carlyle to conclude Okawville Invitational Tournament play on Saturday. The Hawks were paced by freshman Kameron Hanvey, who poured in 13 points.

Valmeyer (10-9) dropped a 59-38 contest at home to Marissa on Friday. The Pirates were outrebounded 30-19. Riley McCarthy led Valmeyer with 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

Dupo (5-13) lost 62-28 at New Athens on Friday. Keonte Scarbrough led the Tigers with eight points. Dylan Boone led New Athens with 16 points.

Dupo plays in the Herculaneum tournament starting Monday.

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Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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