Meridian edges Steeleville in Showcase

<span>Daniel Valentine notched a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, earning Player of the Game honors, and Meridian held off Steeleville for a 62-60 win on Saturday in the Panther Basketball Showcase.</span>

<span>A Valentine steal and layup gave Meridian (14-11) its two-point lead with 20.4 seconds left. The Warriors worked the ball around to R.J. Smith on their final possession, but his driving layup attempt rolled off the side of the rim.</span>

<span>A jump ball on the rebound gave the ball back to the Bobcats with 3.2 seconds left and Steeleville couldn't get a foul before the buzzer.</span>

<span>"We set up a ball screen for Dusty (Sutton) and a double handoff for R.J.," said Steeleville coach Bryce Bainter. "We had two wide open looks (at the basket) and I don't know why we didn't take them."</span>

<span>Meridian coach Erik Griffin gave his take on the climactic play.</span>

<span>"We didn't want to gamble with these guys in front of us," he said. "We made a conscious effort to contain the penetration and force them to shoot shots over us."</span>

<span>Facing off against the Class 1A state runner-up from a year ago, Steeleville (14-8) built a 49-41 lead on a layup from Nic Hagel with 4:08 left in the third quarter.</span>

<span>But the Bobcats rallied with an 11-point run to take a 52-49 advantage with 7:12 remaining in the game.</span>

<span>"We didn't box out on the rebounds," Bainter said. "I don't think we boxed out or rebounded well and that's how they got back in the game."</span>

<span>Steeleville suffered a significant blow when Hagel fouled out with 4:25 remaining, but the Warriors battled on and took a 58-57 lead on two free throws by Trey Lazenby with 2:14 left.</span>

<span>"He's what things are centered around and it didn't seem like the kids got as open without the attention normally drawn to him," Bainter said on how the loss of Hagel affects the team's offense.</span>

<span>Two free throws by Sutton with 1:12 to go tied the game at 60 and Steeleville called a timeout. Parker Lutz stole the ball on the defensive end with 45 seconds left, but Valentine stole it back a short time later.</span>

<span>"I saw us grow up over the last 12 minutes," Griffin said.</span>

<span>Hagel led Steeleville with 14 points in the loss, while Sutton finished with 13 points and Lazenby chipped in 11. Darnell Lowe also reached double figures for Meridian with 12 points, while Bryon Nesby added eight points and 12 rebounds.</span>

<span>The Bobcats handily beat the Warriors on the glass, outrebounding them 43-18.</span>

<span>"I thought we competed well," Bainter said. "Especially playing the last five minutes without Nic."</span>

<span>Steeleville returns to Cahokia Conference play on Tuesday at Marissa-Coulterville in a busy week of games that includes matchups against Dupo on Friday and Sparta on Saturday.</span>