Strong start powers St. Mark's past St. Mary's
<span>Luke Bartens scored 20 points, and St. Mark's Lutheran jumped out to a 15-2 lead in a 44-25 win over St. Mary's in Tuesday's play-in game of the SIJHSAA Class S St. Mary's Regional.</span>
<span>The Hawks managed to cut the deficit to 10 points a couple of times, but could not get any closer in seeing their season end at 4-12.</span>
<span>"I would say our point guard, Bartens," said St. Mark's coach Matt Kraus on what was key in the victory. "He's always been our best player all year and I think he took advantage of their zone defense, was able to find some open guys and we hit some key shots."</span>
<span>Seven other players scored for St. Mark's, which took a 20-8 advantage into the locker room at halftime.</span>
<span>"I thought we played good defense," said St. Mary's coach Greg Myers. "Second chance points, wouldn't follow a lot of shots, just wasn't dropping for us tonight."</span>
<span>St. Mark's outscored St. Mary's 14-9 in the third quarter to expand its lead to 17 points, 34-17, entering the fourth quarter.</span>
<span>The Panthers took a 38-17 advantage on a jumper by Dalton Hornberger with 5:08 to play.</span>
<span>Trenton Jany and Ethan Bert combined for 17 of St. Mary's points, while Michael Wingerter contributed four. Colton Warhausen and Nate Heffernan also notched a bucket in the loss.</span>
<span>"We've got a lot of sixth graders coming up," Myers said on his team's outlook next year. "We will have a smaller eighth grade class, but we should have some more height finally."</span>
<span>St. Mark's advanced to face No. 1 seed St. John Lutheran Chester on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the regional semifinals. Steeleville and Pinckneyville No. 204 were to battle at 7:15 p.m. in the other semifinal.</span>
<span>The two winners will face off at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Chester Grade School for the regional championship and the right to advance to the 16-team SIJHSAA state tournament at Rend Lake College.</span>
Class S Valmeyer Regional
On Tuesday, Prairie du Rocher defeated Evansville, 41-29, at Prairie du Rocher to advance to tonight semifinal against host Valmeyer at 5:30 p.m.
In tonight's other semifinal, Red Bud Catholic takes on Red Bud Lutheran at 6:45 p.m. The winners face off in the regional championship on Friday at 2 p.m.
Class M New Athens Regional
On Tuesday, New Athens and Marissa both punched their tickets to tonight's regional championship.
New Athens defeated Red Bud, 45-15, while Marissa defeated Chester, 63-60, in overtime.
Tipoff tonight is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Class L Mount Vernon Regional
The semifinals of the Class L Mount Vernon Regional take place tonight, with Sparta facing host Mount Vernon at 6 p.m. and Du Quoin battling Murphysboro at 7:30 p.m.
The regional championship is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.