VIENNA — The Vienna Middle School boys basketball team traveled to Bunceton last week, joining the girls basketball team for tournament play. Unlike the girls, the boys will head to Bland this week for their final tournament of the season. In Bunceton, the Eagles fought hard but ultimately placed second, falling to the only team that has consistently stood in their way all season, the St. Elizabeth Hornets.

Coach Danny Barrack pointed to one key reason for the loss: the Hornets’standout player, Cooper Coleman, who stands an imposing 6-foot-2 and has remarkable athletic ability for his age. Despite the Eagles’ carefully crafted gameplan, Coleman proved almost impossible to contain, scoring 16 points by himself against Vienna.

“I don’t think we can change much at all, the kids played very, very well,” Barrack said. “We played a really good team and that kid who is about 6-foot-2 is almost impossible to stop, he’s a great player. That said, we worked so hard this year trying to develop an offensive gameplan that we want to play, and I see the boys starting to put it in place. We are just going to go after the other teams with more energy.”

Despite the second-place finish, Barrack expressed pride in his team’s effort and improvement.

“I am very proud of this team,” he said. “Mostly because they have improved and they are willing to put in the work. Not all the time, but for the most part, all of them are willing to put in the work to become better, and that is what matters to me.”

The championship game saw the Eagles fall 43-27 to St. Elizabeth, but individual performances stood out. Drew Crum led the team in scoring with eight points, all coming in the third quarter, after struggling from the free-throw line earlier in the game. Eli Messersmith contributed six points, going 2-for-2 from behind the arc and showing impressive sharpshooting reminiscent of Steph Curry. Schwartze, James and Wansing each added two points in the second half, while Hallahan notched five points, going 1-for-2 from the line.

Although the loss may seem decisive, it highlighted the team’s growth. Earlier in the season, the Eagles lost by a much larger margin to St. Elizabeth, showing that the team is closing the gap with the league’s top contenders.

The players themselves focused on the positives and the work ahead.

“We played better defensively tonight rather than offensively, we were all over the place going after loose balls,” Messersmith said. “To win in Bland next week, we need to keep the same defensive intensity because how we did it was really good, and be a little more consistent with our shots on offense.”

Alex Wieberg also stressed fundamentals, noting,

“We need to make more free throws as a team,” a point underscored by the team shooting just 1-for-6 from the line.

With one final tournament ahead, the Vienna Eagles boys basketball team looks to carry the lessons from Bunceton into Bland, bringing energy, improvement and determination to close out their season.