St. Anne bests Gardner-South Wilmington in battle for 1st place in RVC

First place in the River Valley Conference was on the line in Tuesday night’s meeting between reigning conference champion St. Anne and an upstart Gardner-South Wilmington team coming off a seventh-place finish last season.

Neither team looked willing to leave St. Anne’s Jack Sikma Court with their first conference loss of the season.

But by the end of a game that featured six lead changes and five ties, it was the host Cardinals (12-5, 6-0 RVC) that held on late for a 52-45 win over the Panthers (9-9, 6-1), putting themselves in the driver’s seat for a second straight conference title with three RVC games left to play.

Senior Matthew Langellier finished third on the team with nine points Tuesday, two of which came on a tough, twisting layup midway through the fourth quarter that put the Cardinals up 46-41 after the Panthers had cut it back to a one-score game.

He said he was happy with how he and his teammates were able to close out the game, finishing on a 6-1 run and holding the Panthers to just eight points in the fourth quarter after allowing 20 in the third.

“It feels good,” he said. “We didn’t have our best shooting night or anything, but we always stay strong on defense and hold the team under our points, and always just try to finish as hard as we can.”

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St. Anne's Matthew Langellier drives towards the basket while guarded by Gardner-South Wilmington's Reed Millette during St. Anne's 52-45 victory over Gardner-South Wilmington on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Michael Savoie for Shaw Local Ne)

The game was tied 8-8 at the end of the first quarter before the Cardinals took a 22-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.

St. Anne tried to pull away to open the third, going up 28-21 in the early going before the Panthers stormed back with a 10-0 run to take a 31-28 lead.

A Jason Blyle 3-pointer tied things back up at 31 points apiece, and things were tied again 33-33 before a Brandon Schoth shot gave the Cardinals the lead for good with about three minutes to go in the third.

The Cardinal starting five continued to showcase its balanced scoring, with all five averaging between 10.4 and 8.6 points per game entering play Tuesday.

Grant Pomaranski had the hottest hand, scoring a game-high 16 points. Blyle finished with 10 points, Langellier had nine, Jackson Hawkins had eight and Schoth added seven. Raleigh Hayes rounded out the scoring with two points off the bench.

St. Anne's Brandon Schoth elevates for a jump shot while contested by Gardner-South Wilmington's Holden Grimes during St. Anne's 52-45 victory over Gardner-South Wilmington on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Michael Savoie for Shaw Local Ne)

St. Anne head coach Rick Schoon said that the team’s willingness to find the open man was especially important in Tuesday’s close game, including on the final field goal they made with 1:21 to go to take a 48-44 lead. They then went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line down the stretch.

“We have confidence that whoever has it is going to finish with it, or make another nice pass off that,” he said. “Our guys do a nice do a nice job of finding each other, finding the open guy.

“A perfect example, the last basket we made we moved (Schoth) to the free-throw line, he turned and found (Hawkins) underneath for an easy layup.”

Four of the five starters are seniors, with Hawkins as the lone junior.

They all have years of experience playing with each other by this point, and Blyle said that experience has helped them build that trust on the court.

“We’ve been a group of a good amount of time,” he said. “So we’ve all got team chemistry. Everybody knows how to work each other around, pass the ball and know we can trust anyone with any moment.”

For Gardner-South Wilmington, the loss ended its longest RVC winning streak in nearly six years.

Leondre Kemp and Cooper Biros led the team with 10 points apiece, even with Kemp missing significant time in the second half after picking up his fourth foul early in the third.

Gardner-South Wilmington's Cooper Biros elevates for a mid-range jump shot during St. Anne's 52-45 victory over Gardner-South Wilmington on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Michael Savoie for Shaw Local Ne)

Stanley Buchanan added nine points while Reed Millette and Holden Grimes added six apiece.

Head coach Allan Wills said he was happy with how his team competed throughout, even if it let a few chances slip away.

“Both teams played hard,” he said. “Leondre got in foul trouble, which hurts because he’s our best player. But other guys need to step up when he gets in foul trouble, and we had too many turnovers.

“There’s hopefully a chance we see them in the conference tournament in a couple week, and obviously it’ll be another good battle.”