Woodland dominates Leopold in Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament opener

Woodland’s Korbin Kinder puts up a shot against Leopold in the first round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 26, at the Show Me Center.

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Woodland defeats Leopold in the first round of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 26, at the Show Me Center.

No. 6 seeded Woodland High School jumped to a 13-1 lead and used an 11-0 run encompassing the closing seconds of the first quarter and the early portion of the second in dispatching Leopold High School 80-44 Dec. 26 at the Show Me Center in an opening round contest of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

This was the third time the Cardinals have faced Leopold this month, as they defeated the Wildcats 76-31 in the Woodland Invitational and 71-39 in a Dec. 10 home contest.

“It’s hard to beat any team three times,” said Woodland head coach Shawn Kinder. “Coach (Jimmy) Lincoln does a great job with those kids. We had them spread out, and the pressure didn’t seem to bother them that much in the first half. It seemed like once we were able to get going a little bit we were able to turn them over a little bit the second half. Jimmy had them ready to play from the get-go, from the opening tip.

The Cardinals led just 20-16 after the first quarter but then built a 41-24 edge at halftime, thanks in part to a 9-2 advantage in made field goals. Woodland converted seven of the quarter’s first eight field goals and Leopold was unable to get a shot to fall from the field until Preston Campbell’s basket with 3:30 left in the half. That cut the Woodland lead to 30-20. The Wildcats were not within single digits the rest of the contest.

Woodland was up 17-9 with 1:50 remaining in the first quarter before Leopold a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 17-16 after a 3-pointer from Campbell. The Cardinals’ got a late three-point play from Calvin Layton, who gathered a defensive rebound and was fouled as he made a field goal with 7.4 ticks left in the opening quarter.

Leopold appeared content to hold for a final shot, but when Campbell’s jumper from beyond the arc was off the mark Layton tried to do what the Cardinals’ often do best - score in transition. The completion of the three-point play put WHS in front 20-16 after the first quarter, and it was 28-16 moments later after two field goals from Korbin Kinder and a pair of free throws and a basket by McCormick.

Kinder credited his team’s bench for helping out.

“I thought our bench came in and did a great job for us tonight,” Kinder said.

The Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 24-16 in the third quarter in pushing their advantage to 65-40 entering the fourth quarter.

“We wanted to beat them plus 10 in the third quarter, trying to give ourselves some goals to work on, to focus on,” Kinder said. “We wanted to try and pick up the intensity a little bit. We’re banged up. Kamren McCormick is just coming off a high ankle sprain, he missed a couple games there so he’s just now coming back.”

Woodland was led by Korbin Kinder with 20 points. McCormick added 14 points while Loga Lee contributed 14 points in the victory. Jackson Shock collected 12 points, eight of which came in the first quarter.

Leopold got a team-high 15 points from Tommy Beussink. Riley Engelen finished 10 points.

Woodland (7-0) advanced to take on Charleston Dec. 27 at 7:30 p.m. while Leopold will battle Scott County Central Dec. 27 at noon.