Published on February 21, 2026 11:58 am
Last Updated on February 21, 2026 12:11 pm
Make it three consecutive National Trail Conference regular season titles for the St. Anthony High School Bulldogs, who went to Cumberland in a winner-take-all NTC finale and parlayed an 11-0 third-quarter run into a 43-40 victory over the Pirates at Waldrip Gym.
St. Anthony (20-10, 8-1 NTC) went into the locker room trailing Cumberland (25-5, 7-2 NTC) 19-13 after a low-scoring first half and – after scoring the first bucket of the second half – allowed the Pirates to build up their largest lead of the night at 22-15.
That’s when Miles Waldhoff took over.
The Bulldogs’ leading scorer tallied seven of his game-high 21 points over the next few minutes as St. Anthony turned that seven-point deficit into a 26-22 edge heading into the fourth quarter. Also key to that run was freshman Blake Verdeyen, who created a couple turnovers and converted one steal into a score of his own.
With Cumberland subsequently having to chase the lead down the stretch and eventually begin fouling to stop the clock and hope the Bulldogs missed some free throws, St. Anthony got the job done by hitting seven of 11 at the stripe. Waldhoff continued to deliver, knocking down five of six from the line during a nine-point fourth quarter.
Leading the Pirates’ scoring was Reed Miller with 15. Cumberland defended well all evening – as it so often does – only to see St. Anthony answer by limiting its other two leading scorers to a total of eight points … one-third of their average nightly production.
In their first year as an NTC member, the Pirates certainly have left an impression on the league. They were the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and ended up winning the third place game there over Dieterich.
Cumberland, Dieterich, and Altamont finish the year in a three-way deadlock for second place with 7-2 conference records; Cumberland won its regular season matchup with Altamont in overtime but lost to Dieterich, while Altamont also lost at Dieterich but picked up a huge win earlier this week at St. Anthony to keep itself at two NTC losses. Dieterich’s conference losses were to St. Anthony and North Clay, which finished fifth at 6-3.
If Cumberland had won the regular-season title in its first year as an NTC member, it would’ve been just the second team to do so. Cowden-Herrick did it last … in the 1932-33 season. Kurt Becker, the preeminent NTC historian, dug up that fact along with the following:
St. Anthony’s regular season title is its 33rd since joining for the 1949-50 season (discounting the COVID year of 2020-21, during which the league did not recognize an official champ). That number equals the total acquired by charter member Teutopolis before it exited the league at the conclusion of the 2011-12 campaign.
Bulldogs coach Cody Rincker has been at the helm for 10 of those 33, making him just the second coach in league history to reach double-digits. The other one? Teutopolis legend Ken Crawford, who did it 17 times in his hall-of-fame tenure with the Wooden Shoes.
One more tidbit from Mr. Becker: With a final conference mark of 8-1, St. Anthony becomes the first undisputed regular-season boys’ basketball champion of the NTC to have sustained a loss in conference play since Beecher City in 1982-83. In both 1981-82 and 1982-83, Beecher City won undisputed regular season conference titles with a league record of 8-1.
at Waldrip Gym
Cumberland High School
St. Anthony 7 6 13 17 — 43
Cumberland 10 9 3 18 — 40
St. Anthony: Verdeyen 1-1 — 3; Waldhoff 6-8 — 21; C. Storm 0-0 — 0; Lauritzen 3-0 — 6; Jansen 2-2 — 6; Griffith 2-1 — 5; Gannaway 1-0 — 2; Looman 0-0 — 0. TOTALS 15 FG, 12 FT.
Cumberland: McMechan 1-0 — 2; Roedl 1 -0 — 2; Stewart 2-0 — 6; Miller 7-1 — 15; Bierman 3-0 — 6; Venatta 1-5 — 7; Harmon 1-0 — 2. TOTALS 16 FG, 6 FT.
3-Point FG: St. Anthony 1 (Waldhoff), Cumberland 2 (Stewart 2).
Junior Varsity: St. Anthony 51, Cumberland 35
Frosh-Soph: St. Anthony 42, Cumberland 22