In a late-season matchup of rivals on Feb. 9, Oakville boys basketball prevailed over Mehlville, 68-59.

“This was our most complete game of the season,” Oakville head coach Nathan Traxler said. “We competed for four quarters. We have been building to this over the past few games. We have been stressing that for us to be successful, we have to put together four quarters of consistent team effort, and I felt we got that Friday night at Mehlville.”

Mehlville head coach Daniel Braun said his team had issues handling the physical nature of play from Oakville.

“Overall, I thought we played okay,” Braun said. “We didn’t handle their physicality well enough and ultimately couldn’t make enough shots. I thought we executed well offensively, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in enough. I think we have room for improvement in how we defended and rebounded Friday night.”

Oakville jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first half, but Mehlville fought back in the third quarter, coming within a possession of taking the lead going into the fourth quarter.

“We had the game tied at 52 a few minutes into the fourth but couldn’t get over the hump,” Braun said. “We needed to hit a couple more shots, and if we had defended and rebounded slightly better, the ultimate result could have changed.”

The Panthers got a big performance from Brady Sights, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Braun said despite the loss, Sights’ performance was still quite impressive.

“Brady attacked the basket well and knocked down some big shots,” he said. “No performance is ever wasted. We go out each night to compete, and sometimes the game just doesn’t end how you want.”

For Mehlville, which dropped to 10-12 with the loss, the focus remains on having a strong showing during district play.

“Nothing changes after this loss,” Braun said. “We talk about getting better each day. It is still in our control to continue to improve and get better each day. If we do that, we’ll enter the district tournament playing some pretty good basketball.”

Traxler was quick to point out that the victory was a team win for Oakville.

“This definitely can be defined as a team win,” Traxler said. “We had four individuals score above or just under double figures, and defensively, we played solid as a group.”

Junior Logan Sholz had 12 points, while sophomore Andrew Eckhard added nine points in the win. Junior Tyler Babb also came up big with 12 points in the victory, while freshman Max Simokatis tossed in 11 points.

More impressive is that Simokatis didn’t enter the game until the third quarter.

“Max came in during the third quarter and not only scored 11 points in the half but also had two excellent blocks and five rebounds in the half while playing the point guard position,” Traxler said.

He also complimented junior Darnel McDonald.

“McDonald also came off the bench in the first half to ignite our offense with eight tough points when Eckhard got into foul trouble,” Traxler said.

Oakville (6-13) has five games left in the regular season, while Mehlville has four contests left before beginning district play.