The 49th annual Chester Invitational saw Perryville claim its second title ever, while Chester struggled in close game to fall to fourth place. Marissa-Coulterville, which gave Perryville a battle in the opening round, turned things around to win the consolation title.
Perryville defeated Saxony Lutheran 61-54 in the championship game Saturday night.
Bryce Weibrecht of Perryville was named the most valuable player. Others selected to the all-tournament team were Brayton Klaus (Saxony Lutheran), Zach Lochhead (Chester), Joey Smith (Marissa-Coulterville), Vince Kiefer (New Athens), Garret Koch (Valle Catholic), Ross Moldenhauer (Perryville), Justin Woodward (Chester), Dakota Paker (Joppa) and Clayton Carver (Saxony Lutheran).
New Athens 49, Chester 47
With 9.3 seconds remaining in the game, Chester, trailing 46-44, was primed for a chance to tie the game or win it in dramatic fashion in front of their home fans Saturday night.
However, the in-bounds pass was picked off by Vince Kiefer and laid in for a layup plus a foul. Kiefer calmly sank the free throw to seal the win for New Athens 49-47.
Kiefer scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half to carry his squad on his back to the third place title.
New Athens made 5-of-10 shots to start the game and grab an 11-8 lead.
The second quarter was all Chester. The Yellow Jackets outscored their opponents 11-2 as Zach Lochhead had eight points in the frame. New Athens was 0-of-8 from the floor with six turnovers. Chester led 19-13 at the break.
Kiefer got his team back in the game in the third quarter scoring 10 points as his team outscored Chester 18-14 to cut the deficit to 33-31 heading into the fourth.
After a three-point from Lochhead and a layup from Justin Woodward, Chester opened the final period with a 5-0 run for a 38-31 lead.
New Athens answered with a 10-2 scoring run to claim a 41-40 lead after a layup from Kiefer.
Chester was able to tie the game up two times late in the quarter but couldn’t take over the lead.
Lochhead finished with 18 points in the loss.
Marissa-Coulterville 51, Valle Catholic 35
Marissa-Coulterville held Valle Catholic out of Ste. Genevieve to just four points in the fourth quarter to pull away with a 51-35 victory Saturday evening to win the consolation championship.
“The second half was by far our best half of basketball this year,” said Marissa-Coulterville coach Dirk Miller. “We have been shooting way too many threes and tonight we were much more patient.”
Clint Runyon scored five points in the opening quarter and Joey Smith tossed in four to lead the Meteors to a 14-8 lead in the first quarter.
Marissa-Coulterville cooled off in the second quarter, making just 5-of-16 shots as Valle was able to cut the deficit down to two points on several occasions. Joey Martin led the Meteors with nine points in the second frame to help his team to a 26-22 halftime lead.
The Meteor defense forced Valle into eight turnovers in the third quarter which led to several fast-break points, as Marissa-Coulterville outscored Valle 12-9 in the quarter for a 38-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Martin and Runyon each had four points in the frame.
Trying to preserve the victory, Marissa-Coulterville really slowed down the tempo of the game in the fourth taking several minutes off the clock on each possession. The plan worked as the Meteors outscored Valle 13-4 in the period to pull away for the 16-point decision.
Valle was just 2-of-7 from the floor with four turnovers over the final eight minutes.
Martin finished with a game-high 17 points, while Runyon added 13 and Smith tossed 10.
“Our press gave them (Valle) problems all game and our defense was really the difference in the game,” added Miller. “We are not a real big team, but they play hard and with a lot of heart. Their hard work in practice is really starting to pay off. We are playing our best basketball of the season right now but we can still get better.”
Saxony Lutheran 72, Chester 68
Despite an incredible performance from senior guard Zach Lochhead, in which he scored 43 points, Chester blew a seven-point halftime lead to fall to Saxony Lutheran of Jackson, Missouri 72-68 in the semifinals Thursday night.
Lochhead scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points and finished the first quarter with 19 points. As a team, Chester made 10-of-13 shots from the field but due to seven turnovers, only led 23-18 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Yellow Jackets cooled down a bit in the second quarter, making just 6-of-14 from the floor. Lochhead, however, stayed hot and added seven points to finish the first half with 26. Chester outscored Saxony 14-12 in the second quarter for a 37-30 lead at halftime.
The tide turned in the second half. Chester began forcing shots and made just 6-of-19 in the third quarter. On the other hand, Saxony found its rhythm and made 10-of-17 from the floor to outscore Chester 22-14 to take a 52-51 lead heading into the fourth.
Lochhead had five points in the third including a deep three-pointer to just beat the buzzer and give his team some much needed momentum.  Brayton Klaus had eight points in the third for Saxony and Gabe Bohnert added six.
Chester stuck to the deep perimeter shots in the final quarter, making five three-pointers, four of which came from Lochhead.
Trailing by two points with under a minute to play, the Yellow jackets had several chances to tie the game or take the lead but they missed their final three shots as Saxony held on for the win to advance to the championship game.
Bohnert finished with 19 points to pace Saxony.