Okawville and St. Anthony battle into overtime in state title game

March 12, 2017 By Jim Muir Leave a Comment

Okawville's Noah Frederking driving the lane in yesterday's state championship game. He will continue his playing career with Marty Simmons' Evansville Purple Aces (St. Louis Post Dispatch photo)

Okawville’s Noah Frederking driving the lane in yesterday’s state championship game. He will continue his playing career with Marty Simmons’ Evansville Purple Aces (St. Louis Post Dispatch photo)

PEORIA, IL (Norm Sanders- Belleville News Democrat – Please click to read the full story and accompanying videos. Here is an Excerpt.) Thirty years after they came painfully close to winning a state title, the Okawville Rockets were forced to endure another team’s celebration again. Drew Gibson hit an off-balance shot with 31 seconds remaining Saturday and then sank two free throws in the closing seconds to lift St. Anthony of Padua, from Effingham, to a 49-46 overtime victory over Okawville in the Class 1A state championship game. It was another dramatic finish for Okawville, which lost the 1987 Class A state title game to Venice on two free throws with five seconds remaining. “Tonight you saw a lot of heart and a lot of guts out of this basketball team,” Okawville coach Jon Kraus said. “I didn’t expect anything different and I got out of them exactly what I thought I was going to get out of them: 36 minutes of toughness and fight. “We just came up a little bit short. No blame on these guys. They turned our town into a frenzy in the last few years.”

Filed Under: High School Sports, Slider, Sports

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