The OHS boys basketball season came to an end Wednesday, Feb. 22  with a loss to Vianney in the district semifinals, 45-28.

The Tigers played a solid game against Vianney, who is currently ranked second in St. Louis. After the first quarter, OHS had a two-point lead on the Golden Griffins, and were only losing by five points at halftime. However, the Tigers were outscored by nine points in the third quarter, and had a tough time coming back in the fourth. Ervin Sarajlic (10) was the high point man for OHS with seven points, and Austin Gillmann (10) was held to only five points, but did grab 14 rebounds and block five shots.

“Our defensive effort the entire game, especially the first half, was very good,” head coach Nick Traxler said. “I was very proud of our guys. We just missed shots.”

Wednesday night ended the Tiger’s worst season since they went 13-14 in 2005-2006. They finished this year with a record of 9-18. However when you factor in the inexperienced players and youth the Tigers had this season, there are many positives to take away from this year.

“We steadily improved our turnovers per game, and also our shooting percentage all year long,” Traxler said. “We had two underclassmen (Sarajlic and Gillmann) earn all-conference awards, and Austin (Gillmann) was also on the all-district team.”

The two leading scorers for OHS were Gillmann at 13.2 points, and Sarajlic at 12.1 points per game. The encouraging thing is that both these players are only sophomores. Coach Traxler and the rest of the OHS coaching staff are looking forward to seeing these two players progress in the next two years, and also seeing the entire OHS basketball program progress with them.