WENTZVILLE • Francis Howell’s performance in the Class 5 District 6 semifinal Wednesday was a microcosm of its 2011-12 season.
Howell trailed Holt -- the district’s No .2 seed -- by 15 points at the end of the first quarter, led in the second quarter and traded the lead back-and-forth with the Indians down the stretch before Holt prevailed 64-59 in a game played at Timberland.
“I love my team,” Howell coach Mike Storm said. “The kids have just shown me so much over the last five or six weeks when it would have been easy to fold up a season.'"
Holt (13-13) hit almost every shot in sight as it raced to an early commanding lead. Justin Davis hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 12 points in the quarter as the Indians jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first period.
’It was great because things really went well for us,” Davis said. “Then, we got too relaxed in the second quarter and things went bad from there.”
Talk about a turnaround: No. 3 seed Howell (9-17) scrambled back into the contest in the second period. The Vikings led 26-25 with 37 seconds left before half. Holt, however, put a five-spot on the board in the final moments on a Michael Carter layup and three free throws Phillip Love to lead 30-26 at the break.
“Howell is a good team, and we are very fortunate to be able to come away from a game like this,” Holt coach Johnnie Williams said. “They are a very disciplined. I felt like once we got a big lead, we started to celebrate. You can’t celebrate in the second quarter.”
The second half went back and forth. With 2:46 remaining in the game, it was tied 52-52.
That's when Brett Smith and Holt took charge. Holt scored the next seven points with Smith delivering five of them.
“We had some guys hit big shots,” Williams said. “Justin did it, and Brett came up really big when we needed it.”
Five points from Eric Siebenshuh nudged Howell back within a point with 37.2 seconds left. But Holt hit five free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
Davis led Holt with 20 points. Smith added 15 points, Carter 11 and Love 10.
Nic Perkins led Howell with 14 points, and Michael Timmerman scored 12 points.
The win pits Holt against the district’s top seed, Troy, in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday.
“I think this is a great opportunity,”Davis said. “As long as we defend and rebound, we’ll be all right.”
