Linn entered the Owensville tournament last week as the top seed, and with a first-round bye, didn’t play until Friday, when the Wildcats knocked off St. Clair 51-37 to advance to the championship game. However, that game was to be played Saturday, but was postponed due to inclement weather and no make-up date has been announced.

Going into Friday’s contest, Coach Clay Crouch said he was a little worried after being off for two weeks.

“You just don’t know what kind of rust you’ll have to knock off, but our kids came out ready and I felt like we defended really, really well,” he said.

The Wildcats were up to the task, however, holding St. Clair to 10 points in the first half and 37 for the game after the Bulldogs scored 82 in their previous game.

“That’s a credit to our kids and their mindset,” said Crouch. “We did some good things offensively and made the plays down the stretch to win. This was a good win for us back from Christmas break and, I’m really proud of our kids’ effort on the defensive end. These kids are fun to coach and I love them to death.”

Linn dominated the first quarter, 14-3, and entered the break with a 23-10 lead. While St. Clair responded with a strong third quarter, winning the frame 17-11 to cut the lead to 34-27, the Wildcats had a fourth-quarter answer to pull out the win.

On the night, Linn converted 42.6% from the floor and went 4-14 from three-point range while hitting 7-15 from the stripe.

The Wildcats held a 13-3 edge in second-chance points, and won the rebounding battle 43-28.

Drew Voss posted double figures, scoring 18 to lead the Wildcats, as he grabbed 14 rebounds to complete the double-double. Alek Peters went 3-4 from the line and finished with nine points, as Andy Hueste added six points, going 2-4 from the stripe. Caleb Maassen and Parker Patterson scored five apiece, and Jackson Voss and Austin McKim pitched in three points each.

J. Voss finished with four assists to lead the Wildcats while D. Voss and Patterson each had two, and Peters and McKim finished with one apiece.

Maassen was second in rebounds with 10, followed by Patterson (4), Peters, Caden Robinson, McKim and J. Voss (2 each), and Alex Grellner (1).

Maassen was also very active defensively, with three blocks and pair of steals. D. Voss added two blocks, and Robinson, Peters and Patterson each had one steal.