The St. Louis University High basketball team had something to prove.
The host Jr. Billikens were motivated by two earlier losses to Chaminade, including a 10-point defeat Friday, and a four-game losing streak that dropped them under .500 for the season.
Fifth-seeded SLUH opened the Class 5 District 2 tournament with a rousing 62-46 upset victory over fourth-seeded Chaminade early Monday afternoon at Danis Fieldhouse.
"After losing to Chaminade twice, and we felt we were a better team than them, we wanted to really come out and stick it to them," SLUH senior guard Matt Clark said.
SLUH (13-14), which lost each of its eight games in Metro Catholic Conference play, had several players contribute. Clark finished with a team-high 14 points, while Zach Greiner added 13 and sophomore guard Austin Sottile had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
That threesome helped the Jr. Billikens jump out to a 20-7 lead after one quarter and 34-18 advantage at halftime.
"We wanted to prove that we were better than our record was," Clark said. "The past four games, we were playing really well. We lost a heartbreaker to CBC. We played Vianney pretty tough. We just wanted to show that we are a better team than our record."
Chaminade (9-17), which got 16 points from Jack Hummel and 11 from Andy Kleinlein, tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but couldn't overcome the slow start.
SLUH advances to meet top seed Webster Groves (22-4) in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The Statesmen, No. 5 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings, defeated the Jr. Billikens 70-48 on Jan. 18.
"Other than the Chaminade game Friday -- and we had a bad one against Parkway West -- but other than that, I've been real happy with our last 10-12 games," SLUH coach John Ross said. "Win or lose, I think we've been playing really well. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday. We're gonna give them all they can handle."
Clark also looks forward to the semifinal matchup.
"When we played them at the beginning of the year, I think we came out a little timid and they just jumped on us," he said. "But I feel that we'll be better prepared for them, and we think we can give them a run for their money."
Follow all of the playoff brackets here. In other district games:
LADUE 49, ROOSEVELT 38 • The third-seeded Rams trailed the sixth-seeded Rough Riders by five points at halftime of their Class 5 District 2 tournament first-round game at SLUH, but rallied in the second half.
Cornell Johnston led Ladue (19-8) with 15 points, while Hamm Hooper added 10. Nigel McMorris led Roosevelt (6-16) with a game-high 17 points, and Damian Ross added 13.
Ladue will face second-seeded CBC (16-10) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
HAZELWOOD EAST 71, RIVERVIEW GARDENS 51 • RaShawn Shelton scored a game-high 20 points and made four 3-pointers to lift the fifth-seeded Spartans to a win over the fourth-seeded Rams in a Class 5 District 8 first-round game at McCluer.
Hazelwood East (13-13), which will play No. 1 seed and top-ranked McCluer North (22-1) in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Wednesday, had four players finish in double figures in scoring: Shelton, Diondre' Worthy (14), Jimmy Jones (12) and Kameron Bell (10).
Tyrin Williams led Riverview (15-10) with 16 points. Darrien Daniels had 14 and Xcelle Thomas added 13.
McCLUER 67, NORMANDY 36 • The third-seeded Comets earned their 10th straight victory, in a first-round game in Class 5 District 8, behind 18 points from Demetrious Floyd, 12 from Malik Ray and 10 from Tyrone Griffin Jr. Terry White led No. 6 seed Normandy (7-18) with 12 points.
McCluer (24-3), ranked third among area large schools, will next play second-seeded Hazelwood Central (19-6) in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Thursday.
FORT ZUMWALT EAST 49, FRANCIS HOWELL NORTH 39 • Josh Ross scored a game-high 24 points to lead the fifth-seeded Lions in a Class 5 Distirct 7 first-round game at Fort Zumwalt North.
James Gleeson led fourth-seeded Howell North (8-18) with 16 points.
Zumwalt East (10-16) will next play top seed Zumwalt South at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Staff writer Jim Faasen contributed information to this story.
