WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Thomas Jefferson fell into an early hole and was unable to recover in a 66-46 loss to St. Elizabeth in the Class 1 quarterfinal round on Friday.
St. Elizabeth (20-10) led by 11 after the first period and pushed its advantage to 19 by the intermission. Thomas Jefferson cut into the lead to start the fourth quarter before St. Elizabeth pulled away down the stretch.
“We just got off to a terrible start,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said to SoMo Sports. “Didn’t shoot the ball well and couldn’t get a stop on the defensive end. Hats off to St. Elizabeth for knocking down big shots on their end and forcing us into tough ones on our end.”
“I was proud of the boys for coming out in the third quarter and playing hard. It would have been easy to just roll over in that second half, but our kids didn’t. They came back out of the locker room and competed well in the second half.”
Thomas Jefferson ends the season with a 21-7 record and graduates seniors Jay Ball, Tyler Brouhard, Kip Atteberry, David Triplett, Tony Touma and Benjamin Carrol.
“I told the boys that this game didn’t define us or our season,” Myers said. “We had a heck of a year, and I am very proud of each of them!”
Ball finished with a double-double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks. Brouhard had 19 points, including three 3-pointers, five steals, four rebounds and three assists.
Jace Kesel had 21 to lead St. Elizabeth in scoring.
