A senior guard for the Kirkwood boys basketball team, Trawick read the pass to De Smet senior standout guard Justin Duff, jumped in front of it and went the other way in a hurry for a transition dunk that had the Pioneers' jam-packed student section roaring. 

“We just needed some energy and I know we had a big crowd and they love the dunks,” Trawick said. “I had to get one in for us and pick up the energy.”

Kirkwood’s energy and effort were outstanding all night as it rolled past De Smet 57-39 to win the Parkway West Showdown at Parkway West High.

The No. 5 large school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Kirkwood (17-0) continues to add to its best start this century. The Pioneers won their second tournament title this season after they took home the top prize at MICDS’s Don Maurer Holiday Invitational.

What made Friday night impressive was the complete and total effort Kirkwood got up and down the lineup.

Senior guard Javaris Moye scored a team-best 15 points but nine of those came in the fourth quarter after the Pioneers flirted with a 20-point lead. Trawick scored eight points and had six rebounds. Senior guard Kellen Rhimes scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds. Sophomore guard Evan Simon started and finished with seven points. Senior guard Tate Drexler had seven points and four rebounds.

But the biggest impact may have been by junior swingman Creighton Wise. The 6-foot Wise scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out a team-best four assists all while playing smothering defense on his assignments much of the night.

“He’s a bulldog. He’s a great defender and we ask him to do that a lot,” Kirkwood first-year coach Sam Briscoe said. “But he did a really good job tonight of finding spots in the defense on drives and being open. He’s not a guy that teams necessarily circle on their scouting report as a scorer but he just knows how to play basketball and he’s all in it for the wins.”

The No. 6 large school, De Smet (12-5) led in the early moments of the first quarter but spent the rest of the night playing from behind. Kirkwood led 14-7 after the first quarter and took a 25-16 lead into halftime. By the time the third quarter was over the Pioneers had pushed ahead 41-26 as the Spartans struggled to find any offensive rhythm for any stretch of time.

“Kirkwood is a good defensive team. They’re going to get up and pressure. I just think at the end of the day we didn’t cut hard and didn’t execute the way we need to,” De Smet coach Kent Williams said. “When you get behind you start trying to go get it back too much instead of letting it happen. Trust the process and let the offense play. Share the basketball and know it’s going to come back to you, things like that.”

The 39 points scored is a season low for the Spartans. 

Sophomore guard Riley Massey led De Smet with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists. Senior post Patrick Origliasso scored eight points as he hit on 6-of-8 free throws and grabbed two rebounds. Senior guard Justin Duff scored six points and had four rebounds as he shuttled in and out of the lineup as Williams tried to get something going on the court.

De Smet’s defense was strong on Moye much of the night and Kirkwood senior guard Christian Hughes finished with four points. But the contributions from the rest of the team were what did in De Smet.

“We all have fun out there. Everybody plays their role well, we give energy, effort and focus,” Trawick said. “It feels great.”

Added Briscoe, “I thought this was the best team effort game we’ve had all year.”

It’s been a brilliant season so far for the Pioneers. They snapped the Spartans four-game win streak and beat them for the fifth time in eight tries since 1999. But Kirkwood has big aspirations this winter and while winning a tournament title in late January is good, there is plenty of work to be done.

“It’s a great to come together as a team, have fun with the guys and we’re just looking to continue to get better,” Wise said. “We’ll push this win aside and keep rolling.”