Columbia, MO – The celebratory chants of “V, Get Ready To Roll! V, Get Ready to Roll” were cascading throughout the Mizzou Arena on Saturday night.
If you follow high school basketball in the state, you know that only means one thing. The Vashon Wolverines are in the house and they are indeed rolling to another state championship.
That was the case this weekend as the Wolverines steamrolled their way to their fifth consecutive state championship. On Friday, Vashon defeated Potosi 90-30 in the state semifinals in one of the most one-sided games in the history of the state tournament.
In the championship game, the Wolverines defeated Benton 81-45 in another dominant performance. Vashon actually trailed 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, but the Wolverines exploded in the second quarter as they outscored Benton 30-10 at halftime. A 25 footer by senior guard Trey Williams Jr. at the buzzer culminated Vashon’s big quarter.
In his last game in a Vashon uniform, the 6’3” Williams scored 19 points, along with five assists and four rebounds. He also made four 3-pointers. Williams will be playing college basketball at Missouri State University next season.
The state championship was the first one for first-year head coach Jimmy McKinney. A former star player at Vashon in the early 2000’s, McKinney took over for Hall of Fame coach Tony Irons, who left to become the head coach at Mineral Area College.
Senior guard Terron Garrett scored 17 points while sophomore guard Jimmy McKinney III had 14 points and six rebounds. Guards Dorea McCaskill and Leon Powell also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.