The Warrenton Warriors battled back from multiple double-digit deficits but were unable to complete the comeback in their conference loss to St. Charles last week. 

Warrenton (11-14) fell to St. Charles 59-48 in their final home game of the season. After trailing by 15 points in the third quarter, the Warriors trimmed the deficit to five points in the fourth quarter in the loss. 

Warrenton boys basketball coach Mark Thomas said the Warriors went with smaller personnel in the second half so they could be faster and apply more pressure. 

“A lot of times, whatever you like to do, a lot of times you don’t like done to you,” Thomas said. “We tried to ramp up the pressure. It worked for a little bit and got us close back in. I was proud of the guys to go out there and try it. At this point in the season, against a good team like that, you’re going to have to take risks.” 

The Warriors went on a 9-0 run to end the third quarter to trim the their deficit to six points. Junior guard Troy Anderson scored all nine points on the run to pull Warrenton within two possessions heading into the final quarter. The Warriors were unable to pull any closer than five points in the fourth quarter, in part to Warrenton’s struggles from the free throw line throughout the game. 

“If we hit our free throws, there late in the game, it’s a two-point game instead of what it was,” Thomas said. 

After opening the game in their zone defense, Warrenton switched to a man-to-man defense for the final three quarters. St. Charles scored 17 points in the opening quarter against Warrenton’s zone. St. Charles averaged 12 points per quarter in the second and third quarter against Warrenton’s man-to-man defense. 

“It’s that time of year where you’re going to have to guard man if you want to be in a game,” Thomas said. “We tried our zone to start off and they scored 17 points against it so the zone went away. You’ve got to guard man. That’s what basketball’s about.”

Thomas stressed he liked how Warrenton battled in the game to pull within two possessions multiple times in the second half after trailing by 15 points in the third quarter. The Warriors also pulled within three points in the second quarter after trailing by 11 points earlier in the quarter. 

“I liked how they battled,” Thomas said. “We talked about it before the game just being resilient. It doesn’t matter what the score gets to. If we get up or they get up. We just have to keep going hard the whole game and battling. And I thought they did a really good job of that. I was proud of them.”

Warrenton dropped a road conference game to Winfield 60-53 in Warrenton’s final regular season game. 

Warrenton is the No. 4 seed in the Class 5, District 4 tournament. They will square off against No. 5 seed Ft. Zumwalt East in the first round of the tournament. The district quarterfinal matchup is scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. March 1. The district semifinal would be held at 5:30 p.m. March 3. The Class 5, District 4 championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 6. All Class 5, District 4 games will be held at Parkway Central High School.