Class 1 District 2 preview: Richland aims for third consecutive title in competitive tournament

The snow may have buried the final week of the regular season, but nothing will stop the district tournaments, beginning Monday, Feb. 24.

The Class 1 District 2 Tournament features many of the smaller schools in the Cape Girardeau area. Three teams are contenders for the district crown after having solid seasons.

Richland is going for its third straight district title and will be led by three seniors scoring 1,000 points over their careers. Tucker Hughes, Eric Williams and Hunter Sanders have carried the Rebels to a No. 1 seed.

"They've played together since they were freshmen," Richland head coach Matt Cline said. "They meshed together well. They've been pretty consistent over their career, and there's been a lot of scoring coming from every different direction."

The Rebels went .500 when they won their first district title in 2023 but finished the next season 23-8 for their second title. They are 13-11 entering their regular season finale against Bloomfield (weather permitting) but will have the district tournament at their home court.

"I think there's an advantage, but it's not an advantage if we don't play hard, match intensity and match energy," Cline said.

Richland will host Zalma at 4 p.m. Monday to start the first slate of games. The Bulldogs are 2-17 and have seen their school close for two straight weeks. The winner will advance to the semifinals to take on the winner between Leopold and Scott County Central.

Leopold won a recent matchup against SCC 56-45 on Feb. 12 behind Tommy Beussink’s 23 points. He and Preston Campbell led the Wildcats to a 16-9 record entering their road game Thursday, Feb. 20, at Advance (weather permitting), which is their best season since their last district championship in 2022. Their 62-50 loss at Charleston snapped a seven-game winning streak that included winning the MVC Tournament championship for the second year in a row.

“Preston Campbell has been a big part of that,” Leopold head coach Jimmy Lincoln said Feb. 12. “We kind of have a three-horse team, but it’s about the whole group.

On the other side of the bracket, Delta opens the tournament with Marquand-Zion and Bell City takes on Oak Ridge. Like Leopold, Delta is riding high on not just an improved season, but its best since 2021, the last time the Bobcats won a district title.

The Bobcats have on their side the fact that they have defeated every district opponent with the exception of Leopold. They are led by an entire team of juniors, especially Ryan Jeffries, who crossed the 1,000-point mark in just two seasons as a varsity player.

At 14-11, the Bobcats have won as many games as their previous two seasons combined. Head coach Toby Heeb said he felt this team would break out this season after watching them compete during the summer.

"We played a lot of games over the summer, different shootouts, played some good teams," Heeb said. "In the last two summers, we go play people, and they blow us out. This year, we were competing and winning games, and I think that just built their confidence."

Delta is taking on Marquand-Zion, who is enjoying a fourth consecutive season of improvement. The Tigers have won eight games for the first time since finishing 15-11 in 2016.

The Tigers have seen their biggest improvement under head coach Charles Doublin, who is in the second year of his second term at the helm.

"We're changing the culture, and they're learning the game of basketball," Doublin said Feb. 4. "This team is really eager to learn things. It's easier with this group. They're buying into concepts of how to play the game, and they start to learn game situation stuff where they didn't know that stuff before."

The winner of that game will face the winner between Bell City and Oak Ridge in the semifinals. The Cubs recently defeated the Blue Jays 74-40 on Monday, Feb. 17, for their first 12-win season since 2017. The Cubs started the season winning the Oran Invitational Tournament and took their lumps against Southeast Missouri juggernauts Cape Central and Charleston. Bell City struggled in January, losing seven of 10 games, but seemed to turn it around in February with four wins in six games.

The semifinals take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, and the final game tips off at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28.