The Winston Redbirds are once again champions of both HDC Conference regular season play and the HDC Tournament. The Redbirds defeated Mercer, 80-34, Friday night at Winston High School to retain their undefeated season record. Winston is the #1 ranked team in Class 1 and the top-seeded team in next week’s district tournament at Orrick.
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By Dennis Cox
The top-ranked Winston Redbirds, newly-crowned champions of both the HDC Conference regular season and HDC Tournament, find themselves in familiar territory as Class 1 district tournaments get ready to tip off. The numbers on the backs of their jerseys could just as well be replaced by bullseyes.
“I’m not sure about being a target,” says Winston Coach Eric Lewis, “but we aren’t a secret and everyone we play tries to give us their best game.”
Defense, rebounding and lights-out shooting combined to set the stage for Winston’s dominating 80-34 victory Saturday in the HDC Tournament title game. Brothers Jacob and Craig Lewis combined for nine three-pointers in the first half and finished with five 3-balls apiece. Griffen Harris was a beast on the boards, particularly on defense in the first half. He finished with 15 of his team’s 30-rebound total.
Jacob finished with 26 points. Craig notched 25. Harris and Cy Uthe contributed 17 and 11 points, respectively for Winston.
Winston’ average margin of victory in tournament championship games this season against Trenton, Stewartsville and Mercer is 40 points. Coach Lewis credits Redbird fans for much of his team’s success.
“Our boys have gotten pumped up to play in trophy games,” he says, “and our fans have shown up for our big games this year,” he adds. “The crowd helps push us on defense.”
The Redbirds, who haven’t lost since last year’s quarterfinal round (47-41 to Stanberry), are looking for their third straight trip to the post season as the only undefeated boys’ team in Class 1. Whether or not it’s the Redbirds representing Northwest Missouri in Columbia, it’s certain that the team that comes out of our area district, sectional and quarterfinal rounds will be battle tested.
“Our boys have handled the situation well,” says Lewis. “They have come to realize that being ranked doesn’t add or subtract a single point from the scoreboard,” he added. “It’s something they can appreciate later in life.”
Winston, currently 23-0 on the season and a remarkable 101-8 over the last four seasons, is, as no surprise, the top-seeded team in next week’s District 13 Tournament at Orrick High School. Braymer is a dangerous #2 seed and with #3 Hardin-Central, the only other team in the district above .500.
Winston and Braymer have dodged each other in recent Gallatin tournaments and haven’t matched up since the 2015 Class 1 Sectional, won dramatically by then sophomore Redbird guard Craig Lewis with a last second layup. Winston went on to defeat a tall Stanberry team in the quarterfinals and eventually finished second in the state to Meadville.
This year’s Redbirds will have to face another noticeable height disadvantage should they meet the Braymer Bobcats in the district championship game. Despite the presence of 6’6” senior Austin Hall and 6’4” senior Jordan Miller, the Bobcats have suffered through an up and down season. Still, with a solid inside-outside game, the Bobcats are plenty capable of making a run all the way to Columbia.
Other area teams deserve mention in looking toward a representative sent to Columbia and the Class 1 four-team bracket, including Mercer, Worth County, North Andrew, St. Joseph Christian and Jefferson.
The District 13 winner will likely face either Mercer or Worth County on Feb. 28 at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in a 3 p.m … that’s right, 3 o’clock on a Tuesday, sectional clash.
But for Winston, the Mercer Cardinals are the cream of the crop of the HDC Conference. Mercer has a previous 15-point loss to Winston on its schedule and a 10-point loss to a good Northwestern team out of Mendon.
Worth County, the #2 seed in D14, is sneaky good, says Winston Coach Eric Lewis.
“Worth County really turned their season around last week,” says Lewis.
The three-ball loving Worth County Tigers own a victory over Stanberry, which moved up to Class 2 this year, and have suffered close losses to North Andrew, Braymer and St. Joe Christian. Hot shooting, like a 10-trey night against Gallatin two weeks ago, could propel the Tigers into the sectional round.
Once-beaten and #3 in Class 1 North Andrew has an impressive resume that includes wins over Braymer, Worth County, Jefferson and twice against Stanberry. North Andrew’s only loss also came to Stanberry on Jan. 17. Winston and North Andrew have not met since the last time Winston failed to make the post season when North Andrew defeated Winston, 63-28, in the district championship in 2014.
“This fall, three of our players and four of their non-football players played five weekends together in the KC area,” said Coach Lewis. “The boys have stayed in touch all through this season and have scouted each other several times,” he added. “They were there when we beat Trenton and St. Joe Christian and we were there for their Stanberry wins.”
St. Joe Christian and Jefferson look to be wild cards. Christian finds itself hosting District 15 with North Andrew as the top seed. The Lions beat Worth County by one point but their only other quality win came against the Jefferson Eagles. The Eagles could soon win their 20th game of the season and should battle Rock Port in the District 16 field at Mound City High School.
As of Feb. 2, only two other state-ranked teams find themselves in the same district. Walnut Grove, #2, and Greenfield, #7, will have a showdown to see who plays an as-yet unranked team in District 6.
This year’s Class 1 state tournament will be a Thursday (March 9) and Saturday (March 11) affair to determine the state champ.