A pair of former Wellsville-Middletown basketball standouts got a chance to see their alma mater compete in the Class 1 Show-Me Showdown at Missouri State University in Springfield on March 11-12.

Fred Johnson and Bill Roundtree, who combined for 6,795 points in high school, were among a large number of fans cheering for the Tigers in their two games at the Final Four. They went to W-M’s semifinal game against Stanberry on March 11 at the Hammons Student Center and the third-place game against St. Elizabeth at JQH Arena the following day.

“It’s a great experience not only to see the young guys out here competing, but it’s also a great opportunity to reconnect with Fred and a lot of the guys we played with a few decades ago,” Roundtree said. “It’s fun to get out and support and be part of the community.”

Johnson and Roundtree are the top two scorers in Missouri high school basketball history. Johnson has 3,552 points, while Roundtree has 3,243. Roundtree was the top scorer for several years until Johnson took over the top spot in 1986.

Johnson and Roundtree visited with the W-M boys basketball team before it began play at the Final Four.

“It was a really cool experience,” W-M senior Keaton Mayes said. “It was great to have the people from the teams that went to state back in the 1980s to come and support us. It was nice that they made the effort to come watch us.”

Johnson said he was impressed with this year’s W-M team. The Tigers placed fourth in the Final Four and finished with a 20-8 record.

“They looked pretty solid,” said Johnson, a 1986 W-M graduate. “They’re hard workers.”

Johnson and Roundtree also competed in a combined total of three Final Fours. Johnson helped the Tigers finish second in his senior year, while Roundtree played on a W-M team that placed fourth in Class 2 in his sophomore year and runner-up in Class 1 the following year.

In 1986, Johnson and the Tigers fell to Scott County Central 84-76 in three overtimes in the championship game.

“It was the best thing we have ever done in high school,” Johnson said of going to the Final Four. “We got here and we worked hard. It was a great atmosphere.”

In Roundtree’s sophomore year, W-M lost to Willow Springs 67-52 in the Class 2 third-place game. The next year, the Tigers fell 62-52 to Mound City in the Class 1 finals.

“We had a couple of (Final Four) opportunities in my sophomore and junior years in high school,” said Roundtree, who graduated from W-M in 1982. “In my junior year, we had an opportunity to play in the championship game, but we got beat. That’s what a kid dreams of. You get out, you start work in sixth grade and you see some of the upperclassmen, dreaming that maybe you can play like they did.”

Roundtree is currently working as a vice president of agency and sales at State Farm. He has been with the company since 1986.

Johnson lives in Springfield. He has been working at Hiland Dairy Foods for 28 years.