Sports
Big Week For U. City Hoops Begins With Big Win Over Jennings
Finally at full-strength for the first time this season, Lions wallop Warriors to claim fourth straight victory.
UNIVERSITY CITY HIGH SCHOOL – Just two weeks ago, when the first semester of the school year officially ended, boys basketball coach David Gammon was a bit concerned about the state of his team and where it was headed.
The Lions had a good record at 8-5, but the coach was worried that he might lose some players to ineligibility because not everybody on the team had done what they were supposed to in the classroom during the first semester.
“We might lose a couple guys,” Gammon said, in an interview back in January. “I don’t want to talk about it too much, but we might not have everybody for second semester.”
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Well, turns out Gammon was concerned for no reason, because not only is the team still in tact, the Lions actually added two quality players for the rest of the season, and now have their full roster for the first time all season.
And with the new additions, U. City hasn’t been beaten yet.
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They won three games to take first place at the Fox Invitational Tournament last week, and on Tuesday night, the Lions dismantled visiting Jennings, 68-52, at the Ed Crenshaw Gymnasium to claim their fourth straight win.
“It was a good win tonight,” Gammon said. “You know, it’s not the physical stuff. It’s the mental stuff that we have to work on. It’s about trusting each other, and focusing on what we have to do to win games.”
On Tuesday, U. City got just about all of it right in what turned out to be a blowout win over Jennings.
Senior guard Travon Williams had a game-high 23 points to lead the Lions, while teammates Alex Henry and new-addition Brannon Merritt added 11 points apiece as well.
The key stretch in the game came at the beginning of the second quarter, when U. City went on a 15-5 run that put the Lions up 30-11.
Williams had two layups and a fastbreak dunk during the run, while 6’6 teammate Avion Ashford finished off the U. City spurt with a thunderous jam that brought the entire gym to its feet.
“We’ve got some good players for sure,” Gammon said. “And what’s great now is we’ve got all this depth. We’re going to give some teams some trouble.”
What’s especially exciting about the U. City team is they can go big with Ashford and 6’7 teammates Merritt and Darnell Tillman on the frontline.
Or if they want to go small, which they’ve done most of the season, the Lions can play four guards and one big and cause all kinds of matchup problems for just about any potential opponent.
“The hard part is we don’t have a whole lot of time to get this all figured out,” Gammon said. “Districts are in a month, less than a month, so we’ve got to get ourselves ready pretty quick.”
One thing that helps the U. City cause is they have a bunch of games left on the schedule that can only help the team develop more chemistry.
This week, the Lions have three games, including an important road game at Ritenour High School in Overland on Wednesday, and another home game at Crenshaw Gymnasium against on Friday.
Then next week, U. City will play four times in a seven-day span in a series of games that will serve as the Lions’ final tune-ups for the MSHSAA district playoffs, which will be played at in Ladue beginning on February 20.
“It’ll be hard with all these games,” Gammon said. “But it can only help us get better.”
Tonight’s game at Ritenour is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off, while Friday’s home game against Rockwood Summit is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
U. CITY LIONS REMAINING BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
2/1 at Ritenour 5:30 pm
2/3 vs. Rockwood Summit 6 pm
2/6 vs. Clayton 7 pm
2/7 at Seckman 7 pm
2/10 at Parkway Central 7 pm
2/14 at Kirkwood 7 pm
2/15 vs. Ladue 5:30 pm
2/17 vs. Parkway North 5:30 pm
2/20-2/25 MSHSAA Districts @ MICDS TBA