CREVE COEUR • Webster Groves shrugged off yet another legitimate threat to its impressive Suburban South Conference winning streak on Tuesday.
The Statesmen visited Parkway North and won convincingly, 71-56. For Webster Groves, No. 8 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings, it was its 76th conference victory in a row.
"These are the biggest games we have all season," Webster Groves senior Peter Fairbanks said. "Everybody wants to beat the streak. Everyone comes out for it, but it's not going to happen. Not this year."
Webster Groves improved to 17-4 overall (3-0 conference), while Parkway North fell to 15-4 (2-1).
Rayshawn Simmons put together another impressive performance, as the Webster Groves senior scored a game-high 27 points and dished out 10 assists.
"We got back to what we were doing earlier in the season," Simmons said. "You could tell an improvement on our hustle on the court."
As if Simmons wasn't enough for the Vikings to contend with, Webster Groves guard Brennan Coltrane hit big shot after big shot in the first half when he scored all of his 14 points.
"He was back in form tonight," Webster Groves coach Jay Blossom said. "Those were big time shots in the first half. There wasn't any hesitation and it gave us some separation."
Fairbanks finished with 13 points. Coltrane and Fairbanks combined for six of the eight Statesmen 3-pointers. Demetrius Robinson, on the bench for most of the first half with three fouls, added 10 points.
Parkway North's Darrell Johnson scored just four points in the first half, but finished the game with a team-high 16 points.
"In the first half, it was just about getting in front of him and making him go to his weak hand," Fairbanks said. "The rest took care of itself."
Webster Groves had lost two straight coming into the night and fell behind 17-16 in the first quarter.
Coltrane came alive in the second quarter, nailing two 3-pointers and then scoring on a putback at the buzzer that put Webster Groves ahead 38-29 at halftime.
"That was probably the littlest guy on the court at the time getting to the glass," Blossom said.
In the third quarter, Simmons took over. When he wasn't cutting through the paint for layups, the 6-foot-4 point guard was dishing to his teammates, including a flip pass over his head to Robinson, who nailed a jumper to make it 61-44 going in the fourth quarter.
Parkway North returns to action on Wednesday against Pacific before hosting Parkway Central on Friday.
For the Statesmen, it is back to the Suburban South Conference on Thursday against Parkway West. Next week, Summit and Kirkwood are on the docket.
"For us to come in and get a win is good," Blossom said. "Now it's for No. 77 on Thursday. We have a lot of tough ones left."
