The electric energy from a spirited student section and his long-awaited senior night fueled Kye Schnarre as he stepped onto his home court for one of his final games.The environment had Schnarre feeling “hyped” and he made an immediate impact as he drained the first three points in Wright City’s eventual 61-49 victory over Veritas on Feb. 14.

Schnarre, Jersiah Higgins, Duan McRoberts, Hunter Bohannan and AJ Simon make up the Wildcats’ senior class. 

“[Head Coach Ken] Brown has really harped on us about moving as a chain in the 2-3 zone and that really helped the drives,” Schnarre said. “And just knowing your teammate, knowing how our defense is working and really getting on it in practice.” 

The Wildcats improved to 6-15 record with three regular season games remaining. They have won four of their last five games. 

Brown said defense was the key to the victory over Veritas Christian, which is located in O’Fallon.

“I just told them [at halftime] the reason why we’re winning this game is because of our defense,” Brown said. “If we continue to defend, protect the middle and limit them from second chance points, we’ll be fine.” 

Higgins recorded 23 points, McRoberts added 10 and junior Grant Lehmen finished with 11. Brown said he was pleased with the efforts from Higgins, McRoberts, Lehmen and juniors Lavarious Green and Kaiden Pilcher.

“[Higgins] did what he normally does and Duan McRoberts did a really good job of getting to the rim and putting the pressure on the basketball,” Brown said. “Lavarious Green was amazing tonight. He had a lot of rebounds and he’s been sick the last couple of days, so I appreciate his effort tonight...” 

“...[Pilcher] and [Lehmen] did a really good job protecting the paint and getting rebounds,” Brown added. 

The Wildcats were off to a fast start and led 18-10 after the first quarter, never trailing the rest of the way.

“We did a really good job protecting the middle and we had a couple guys getting hot from the three-point line. We were on fire,” Brown said. 

Higgins and Schnarre said their team turned in a strong effort against Veritas, a team that likes to score from the inside. 

“Our defense was very active all game and they really couldn't score outside of the paint,” Higgins said. 

“It just worked. [We said] pack the paint and let them shoot,” Schnarre said.

Wright City was scheduled to play Van-Far on Feb. 18. It has a road game against Wellsville-Middletown on Feb. 20 and a home game against the Collegiate School of Med-Bio Science on Feb. 26 to wrap up the regular season.

Higgins said his team is looking forward to the district tournament, which starts on March 3.

“We have a couple of key components back, “Higgins said. “That has really helped us gain confidence. We just have to come out here and play with our full potential.”