Vienna sees 20-win season end at hands of Eugene

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 3/2/22

LAQUEY — Next man up.

That was unfortunately the case for Chandler Harker’s Vienna Eagles Monday night in the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 2, …

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Vienna sees 20-win season end at hands of Eugene

Posted

LAQUEY — Next man up.

That was unfortunately the case for Chandler Harker’s Vienna Eagles Monday night in the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 2, District 9 Boys District Tournament championship game against Eugene’s Eagles at Laquey High School.

Sick hours before game time, senior Bayrd Vanscoy was not able to play meaning that fellow senior Spencer Magner was inserted into the starting line up.

When Vienna last played Eugene during the regular season, they were also without Trey Snodgrass due to sickness.

Falling 69-51 at Eugene in late December, Vienna was gunning for their second revenge win in three days after defeating Richland 66-54 on Saturday avenging a season-opening overtime loss to the Bears back in November.

Falling behind 9-0 to open the game, Vienna kept chipping away throughout the game before Eugene eventually pulled away in the second half handing the Maries County Eagles a 68-44 season-ending loss.

“I’m proud of the fight our guys showed all season,” Harker said. “We missed Bayrd not being with us tonight but our guys never gave up against a very good Eugene team.”

Behind four first-quarter points from Snodgrass, Vienna trailed the Cole County Eagles 16-7.

Edged 18-17 closing the first half, Vienna went into halftime trailing Eugene 34-17.

Snodgrass led VHS in the first half with 10 points followed by five points from fellow Vienna post player Danniel Casey.

Outscoring Eugene 12-9 to open the second half, Vienna went into the fourth quarter trimming their deficit to single digits against EHS by a score of 45-36.

Not able to get any closer during the final eight minutes, Vienna saw their season end overall at 21-8 and 4-1 within the Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) good for a second-place finish behind Steelville.

Snodgrass led Vienna with a team-high 18 points followed by seven points apiece out of Cash Stricklan and Casey.

Magner and Max Steffen each chipped in five points while TJae Schell rounded out the Vienna scoring against Eugene with two points in the fourth quarter.

Tyler Renn led Eugene with a game-high 21 points.

Dispatching Laquey 54-26 in the first round of districts behind 19 points from Vanscoy, Vienna entered their semifinal showdown with Richland’s Bears Saturday looking to avenge a season-opening overtime loss at home.

Finally able to play after three days of postponements due to winter weather, the Eagles quickly jumped on Richland.

Opening the game on a 7-0 run, Vienna was able to hold off Richland with pressure defense and timely offense throughout their 66-54 district semifinal upset of the Bears.

Taking an 18-13 lead after one quarter, Vienna was led by Vanscoy with eight points followed closely by Steffen with four points all on free throws.

Outscoring Richland 17-11 in the second quarter, VHS pushed their halftime lead into double digits by a score of 35-24.

Vanscoy added six second-quarter points giving him a game-high 14 first-half markers.

Nearly doubling up the Bears in the third quarter, the Eagles saw their lead balloon to 48-31 with eight minutes of district semifinal basketball to play.

In spite of Richland winning the fourth quarter 23-18, Vienna held on for the victory, 66-54.

Vanscoy led four Eagles in double figures against the Bears with a game-high 16 points.

Snodgrass added 14 points followed by 11 from Steffen and 10 points from Stricklan.

Spencer Magner scored six of his seven points in the second half to go along with six from Casey and a first-quarter bucket for two points from Lucas Magner.