Fort Zumwalt North Topples Francis Howell North for Class 5, District 8 Title

ST. PETERS – For the first time in nearly a decade, boys’ basketball team is District champions.

Unfortunately for Francis Howell North, its Cinderella run came to a screeching halt Friday night.

Fueled by a hot start that saw the Panthers score the opening 16 points, Zumwalt North led throughout and fended off the Knights’ fourth-quarter rally to prevail, 66-49, to claim the Class 5, District 8 championship.

The victory gave the second-seeded Panthers (20-7) their first District title since 2002.

“It’s been a long time. It’s such a great feeling,” Zumwalt North’s 6-foot-5 junior center Drew Lowrey said. “We’ve worked so hard and so long for this. I’m so proud of our team that we won.”

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Howell North finished the season with a 13-14 record after beginning the campaign with seven straight losses.

Even though the Knights dug themselves a big hole in the first quarter, Zumwalt North head coach Charles Glotta knew it wouldn’t be easy putting them away.

“We knew they were going to battle,” Glotta said. “Since I’ve been here, (Bill) Moyer’s teams have always battled hard. They have four seniors that are just going to be tough all the way until the end.”

Zumwalt North took the opening tip-off and proceeded to hit three consecutive 3-pointers as junior Jacob Boyd drilled the first one before freshman Chaz Glotta canned the next two for a quick 9-0 lead.

Lowrey then scored in the post followed by a basket from senior Alex Navatto, a free throw from Glotta and a bucket inside from junior Herod Montgomery. That gave the Panthers a commanding 16-0 advantage and forced Moyer to call his second timeout in less than four minutes.

Steven Raines and Dan McGraw broke the scoreless streak, but Lowrey had a rebound basket that put Zumwalt North up 18-4 after the opening period.

“We came out a little bit tight in our last game. So we spent a lot of time preparing (Thursday),” Charles Glotta said. “I tried to get them real relaxed coming into this game. They were ready and relaxed, and it showed.”

The scoring slowed down in the second quarter for the Panthers, who made just three field goals and tallied only seven points.

Howell North managed just nine points, but it was able to go into the locker room down by a dozen, 25-13. Andre Wooten scored seven of those points to keep the Knights within striking distance.

The Panthers stretched their lead out to as many as 17 points midway through the third quarter, highlighted by conventional three-point plays from Lowrey and Glotta to make it 35-18.

However, the Knights pulled themselves back into the game again and closed the quarter on a 13-6 run and trailed 41-31 going into the fourth quarter.

“I think we started thinking that it was going to be an easy game,” Lowrey said. “That’s when they made a run at us. We got it back in our system that this wasn’t going to be easy. We had to work hard to hold them off at the end.”

Howell North used that momentum in the final period as seniors Raines, Wooten and Toedtmann would not go down without a fight.

Toedtmann sparked the rally with a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to single digits before eventually pulling the Knights as close as 52-46 when he made two of three free throws with 3:17 remaining.

On the ensuing possession, Boyd turned a potential turnover into an assist when he found Lowrey wide open in the lane for an easy basket that seemed to propel the Panthers forward.

Lowrey recorded a double-double, scoring a career-high 19 points and grabbing a game-best 12 rebounds.

“I just felt like I had to step up my game,” he said. “So I came out and tried to do that to help out the team.”

Lowrey scored 15 points in the second half, making sure the Panthers never relinquished its lead.

“We’ve been waiting all year long for this from Drew,” Charles Glotta said. “We saw flashes throughout last spring, summer and into the fall. He’s a kid who has wanted to be good. He’s worked his tail off so hard.

“We talked before districts and I told him he was just overthinking things. So I told him to relax and play basketball. He gets 34 points in two games with back-to-back career highs. That’s fantastic.”

Zumwalt North closed out the game by converting 13 of 16 free throws during the final four minutes and made 23 of 37 charity tosses overall.

Chaz Glotta followed up Lowrey’s outburst with 18 points while senior Wade Rothermich and Navatto each added nine and Boyd chipped in seven.

Raines paced Howell Central with 15 points, Toedtmann had 14 and Wooten provided 12 to go along with six boards.

Zumwalt North advances to play Troy Buchanan (18-10) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Maryville University. But for now, the Panthers will enjoy celebrating another district title.

 “It’s a lot of hard work and sacrifices by these kids. These kids wanted to make that commitment,” Charles Glotta said. “From the end of last year, they played almost one hundred games together through spring, summer and fall. And that was around AAU schedules for some of them.

“It’s a lot of dedication. When you put that much time and effort into each other, you know you’re going to have each others back. So it’s great for our school and community.”

BOX SCORE

ZUMWALT NORTH (66) – Boyd 2 2-6 7, Glotta 4 8-13 18, Navatto 4 1-3 9, Rothermich 2 5-6 9, Lowrey 6 7-9 19, Montgomery 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 23-37 66.

HOWELL NORTH (49) – Raines 5 2-4 12, Wooten 7 1-2 15, Toedtmann 4 4-5 14, Martinez 1 0-0 2, McGraw 2 0-0 4, Viehmann 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 7-11 49.

FZN    18        7          16        25 – 66

FHN    4          9          18        18 – 49

3-Pointers – Zumwalt North 3 (Glotta 2, Boyd), Howell North 2 (Toedtmann 2). Rebounds – Zumwalt North 29 (Lowrey 12), Howell North 20 (Wooten 6). Turnovers – Zumwalt North 12, Howell North 10. Fouls – Zumwalt North 15, Howell North 16. Fouled Out – Toedtmann. Records – Zumwalt North is 20-7 and Howell North finishes 13-14.