A dream season came to an end for Walnut Grove on Saturday. After a 30-2 start to the season, the Tigers fell to No. 1 and undefeated Stanberry, 69-49, in the MSHSAA Class 1 State Championship at Mizzou Arena.
“We got beat by a better team tonight,” said Walnut Grove coach Darin Meinders. “Stanberry is a very good team and for us to beat them we were going to have to play at the top of our game and we were going to have to shoot the ball very well and that didn’t happen tonight. Anytime you can go undefeated in football and basketball that says something about your program.
If you’re a competitor and you’re a player then this should hurt; I’ve got a locker room full of guys crying. I told them it should hurt, it hurts. I really don’t have words for them… I don’t know what to tell them.”
Coach Meinders was attempting to lead the program to its first-ever state title, just as he did with the girls’ program in 2007, but Walnut Grove ran into its worst shooting performance of the season on the biggest stage.
The Tigers shot just 32% from the field, including an ice cold 3-for-31 from deep.
Coming into the weekend no team in Columbia had made more 3s than Walnut Grove and only Class 3 state champ Father Tolton Catholic averaged more points than the Tigers.
In the first half no player besides senior guard Darin Meinders was able to connect on a field goal. It was the 24th time this season Stanberry held an opponent to 50 points or less.
“It wasn’t a lack of effort, they weren’t missing on purpose, but their length gave us some trouble on the perimeter and in the paint too,” said Coach Meinders. “It’s just one of those things, this is a big stage and we’ve got a young team. They have a senior-dominated team and it’s tough when you have young kids going against seniors; there’s just a difference in age, the maturity and the strength.”
Meinders was the lone bright spot for Walnut Grove.
While his teammates shot a combined 4-for-38 from the field, the Grand View signee dropped a game-high 35 points and shot a blistering 15-for-22 from the field.
Stanberry led 25-16 at the half and extended that lead to 15, 31-19, but a personal 9-0 from Meinders brought the Tigers within eight, 36-28, preceding a 12-0 Bulldog run that served as the dagger.
Meinders scored 21 points in the second half alone, going 9-for-12 from the field.
“Some people say that left-handed players are squirrely, but we just couldn’t stop him,” said Stanberry coach Nick Groom of Meinders. “He was driving and scoring all over the place; he played like a senior that knew his season was on the line in a state championship. He kept his team in it single-handedly and did whatever it took to keep his team in it.”
There is a silver lining for Coach Meinders and Walnut Grove… they’ll be back.
The Tigers return nearly everyone, including all-state sophomore Logan Thomazin and emerging point guard Hunter Gilkey.
Replacing Meinders will be nearly impossible, but with the growth and maturation of underclassmen, Walnut Grove will likely be a top five time entering 2016-17.
Stanberry 69, Walnut Grove 49
Walnut Grove 12-4-12-21 – 49
Stanberry 13-12-17-27 – 69
Walnut Grove (30-3) – Meinders 35, Gilkey 7, Thomazin 4, Melton 3.
Stanberry (31-0) – D. Hailey 19, McQuinn 15, B. Hailey 11, McMillen 8, Craig 8, Aye 4, Luke 4.
