The St. Charles Pirates have already knocked off one state-ranked team in the postseason. If they can do it again, they'll find themselves in the state quarterfinals.
But the Helias Crusaders will be doing their best to make sure that doesn't happen when the teams meet at 7:45 p.m. today in a Class 4 sectional contest at Troy Buchanan High School.
St. Charles, which is ranked fifth in the state, pulled off an upset of sorts when it beat second-ranked Duchesne 52-46 on Friday in the Class 4 District 7 championship game. That earned them today's date with Helias, which is ranked seventh, and avenged one of the losses this season for St. Charles, as the Pirates lost to the Pioneers by nine points a week earlier.
St. Charles' other losses this season have come to a pair of Class 5 teams still alive in the playoffs, eighth-ranked Webster Groves and unranked Ladue, and to St. Louis University High.
The Pirates come into the game on a roll, having won 14 of their last 15 games.
St. Charles gets the bulk of its production from its backcourt, as three of their top four scorers are guards. Leading the way is Casey Teson (6-2, jr.) who drops in 17.6 points per game while dishing out 2.7 assists per contest. He has connected on 43 percent of his 3-pointers this season, making 43-of-99.
Chase Morfeld (6-0, jr.) is next on the team with 12.8 ppg, and he hands out a team-high 4.9 apg. Center Luke Joslin (6-5, sr.) is a do-everything player for the Pirates, as he averages 9.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game to go with team highs of 1.8 blocks and 1.8 steals per contest.
Also for St. Charles, guard Sam Kohrs (6-0, sr.) drops in 8.0 ppg.
Junior guard Isiah Sykes leads the way for Helias, as he's pumping in an average of 20.3 ppg. The only other Crusader averaging double digits is junior center Hale Hentges, who adds 10.8 ppg.
Hentges leads the team in rebounding with 6.7 per contest, with sophomore Adam Bax close behind at 6.1. Hentges also has a team-high 2.0 blocks per game and is second in assists with 2.6 per game to Sykes' 2.9. Sykes leads the team in steals with 2.5 per game.
The winner of tonight's matchup will play the winner of the sectional game between two unranked teams, Jennings (17-7) and Normandy (15-13). The quarterfinal game is set for 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Francis Howell High School.