In their annual appearance in the Pattonville Tournament, the Lancers opened the season with a strong showing against Jennings High School. Senior Luke Kreienkamp took advantage of a tremendous size advantage and had 25 points as the Lancers cruised to a 71-49 win.

“We played well and I was able to play slower,” Kreienkamp said, “I made sure to keep the ball high because they were smaller and we were trying to feed the post early in the offense more to get the guards open.”

Despite winning by 22 points, the Lancers had some trouble putting an undersized Jennings team away. After jumping out to 20-11 lead in the first quarter, they saw the score cut to 34-32 at halftime. Raheim Holloway and Courtney Stockard led the way with 18 and 13 points, respectively.

But the Lancers were able to quickly pull away in the third quarter behind Kreienkamp’s dominant low-post play and an impressive debut for sophomore Nate Messer, who outscored his brother, senior Nick Messer, with 13 points in his first varsity game.

“I was nervous at first, but once I got my first point I was feeling it,” Nate Messer said, “The tempo was up a lot higher (than junior varsity), especially on defense. I have to be aware of where my man is on defense.”

In the second round of the Pattonville Tournament, the Lancers will face Chaminade at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 30.