O'FALLON, Mo. • St. Dominic junior center Emmett Wilmes has developed into quite a shooter.
The 6-foot-4 Wilmes put his shooting touch on display in the Crusaders' 58-28 win over Kennedy in an Archdiocesan Athletic Association game at home Wednesday.
Of his game-high 18 points, Wilmes was able to drain a pair of jumpers each from the baseline and from the elbow.
When he wasn't raining in outside shots, Wilmes was busy driving to the basket past a stretched out Celts defense.
"I've been working on getting those shots down, but my teammates also did a great job of finding me out there," Wilmes said. "It just came down to hitting open shots."
Early on, Wilmes scored on an easy layup as St. Dominic (10-9 overall, 6-2 AAA) opened the game on a 6-2 run.
Later in the first quarter, Wilmes drained a 17-foot jumper from the baseline to help the Crusaders end the quarter on an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 14-5.
Kennedy coach Joe Walterbach said, while Wilmes' efforts didn't do his team any favors, the added fact Kennedy (4-14, 1-8) played a hard-fought game just 24 hours earlier didn't help.
"I don't want to take anything away from him (Wilmes), he had a great game," Walterbach said. "We just came into this game fatigued. We had a very fast-paced game last night (which Kennedy won over Affton) and our legs just weren't there tonight."
St. Dominic went into intermission with a 30-19 lead and started the third quarter on a 14-4 run.
Wilmes had eight points of the run and had 10 total points for the quarter.
Just as strong as Wilmes' play, though, was the defensive effort of the Crusaders.
"We really needed Emmett tonight," St. Dominic coach Kurt Schneider said. "Last game we saw them, they ran some triangle-and-two on Mike Schneider and Alex Hagan and we expected that again. It was important that somebody stepped up and kept them honest.
"Defense has also, generally, been our strong point. We've been up near the top of the conference in (fewest) points allowed. We had the same approach, intensity and determination and that was key."
St. Dominic also received 12 points from Hagan and 11 from Mike Schneider. Schneider added eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
Perhaps the most spectacular two points of the night came from Hagan as he shook loose from a Kennedy defender and dunked the ball home to give the Crusaders a 52-26 lead with just over five minutes to play.
Daniel McCune and Sam Stewart led Kennedy with eight points apiece.
