Webster Boys Extend Amazing Streak to 70 Games

Webster Groves stepped on to its home court against Rockwood Summit on Tuesday night with an increasing amount of attention being paid to its Suburban South Conference winning streak of 69 games.

Make that 70.

Summit proved to be the unlucky contributors to the Statesmen reaching 70 straight conference wins. Prior to the game coach Dave Schroll noted that his Falcons paid no attention to the streak. The 79-39 victory by Webster seemed to leave Schroll equally nonplussed.

“We want to try and do what we do well in every game, and that doesn’t change because we’re playing Webster. We try to focus on our keys and execute, and tonight we did not handle pressure, we did not take care of the ball and we did not rebound,” said Schroll.

The Statesmen, by contrast, saw play go their way. Even early mistakes seemed to work in their favor. Senior Joe Henderson made an errant pass early in the first quarter, but soon after got his own rebound and scored to make it 13-5.

The bright spot for Summit was senior Eldon Beckham, who led all scorers with 15 points and helped to keep the game close in the first period.

With the win, Webster climbed to 17-4 on the season. They blew open the scoring in the second quarter, putting up 30 points behind the effort of junior Rayshawn Simmons, who, along with sophomore Demetrius Robinson, led the Statesmen with 14 points in the game.

Simmons tipped in a missed layup, and then followed a basket by sophomore Michael Gulve with another layup on his way to a 10-point second quarter. After the big Webster run, the Falcons seemed to deflate. Still, Summit sophomore Adam Pearson drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the first half ended with a glimmer of optimism for the visitors.

Trailing 45-14 to start the second half, the Falcons endured a barrage of scoring by Webster in the opening minute, with a Henderson dunk followed by a pair of layups by senior Jason Meehan. Any optimism turned to despair as a 30-point deficit quickly loomed for Summit.

Leading 76-33 early in the final quarter, Webster made liberal use of its bench and began resting starters in anticipation of its upcoming game against Oakville, which will also be senior night for the Statesmen.

A 3-pointer by senior Austin Sherman at the buzzer gave Summit (8-12) a hopeful ending as it prepares for a tough upcoming slate.

Webster coach Jay Blossom said it was good to get number 70 out of the way, and while positive on his team’s performance against Summit, quickly looked ahead at a tough schedule for the rest of the week.

“After the first few minutes I thought we played well and started pushing our tempo … the rest of the week is going to get tougher for us with Oakville (Wednesday) and Kirkwood on Friday, so we need to be ready to play,” said Blossom.