Hoping to avenge a two point loss to the Pirates on February 9, the higher seeded Ozark Tigers took the floor at Branson as the home team. Ozark prevailed this time 65-47 and move on to the Class 5 District 11 Championship on March 4.
Ozark Coach Mark Schweitzer wanted to make sure that his team did the little things necessary to win this time around.
“I thought our kids played defense really well tonight. They were way more focused on boxing out,” said Schweitzer. That’s the sort of thing he emphasized to his team after reviewing the video from the previous game against Branson.
Ozark took an early 4-0 lead after a three point basket by Riley Simmons, his first of three in the game. Simmons finished with 14 points.
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Seth Wood answered with one of his own to bring the deficit to one point. Christian Powell followed with another field goal for Branson and led 5-4. It was their only lead of the night as the Tigers abandoned their full court press for the rest of the night.
The Pirates (14-11) tied the score at eight on a long range shot from Powell with 11 seconds left in the first quarter. That was plenty of time for Ozark as Kyland Hewett-Newbill hit a 3-pointer as the quarter ended putting the Tigers up 11-8.
Ozark didn’t shy away from the fact they were only 2-for-9 from behind the arc in the first quarter. Some of those shots started to fall for the Tigers. A 13-5 run—including two more three-point baskets by Simmons—helped post the Tigers to a six point halftime lead, 30-24.
The game plan for Ozark (17-7) was to force Branson out of their zone defense by shooting well on the perimeter. Since that wasn’t going too well, the Tigers went to Plan B which was to drive the lane and find the open shots inside.
Coach Schweitzer credited Hewett-Newbill with controlling the pace of the game and creating the change the Tigers needed. “When the shots weren’t falling, I thought that Kyland did a great job—really without me even telling him—attacking the rim and getting some buckets.” Hewett-Newbill led all scorers with 22 points.
Just two minutes into the second half, Seth Wood made a layup to put the Pirates only down three. Ozark’s Clayton Engel was injured on the play, rolling his ankle. Engel was helped to the bench with a fairly severe sprain. Branson could have made their move then but it was the Tigers who played inspired, especially Engel’s sub, Peyton Osborn.
In the last four minutes of the third quarter, Osborn blocked two shots, had a steal, an assist and a field goal.
“(Peyton) had huge minutes for us when Clayton went out,” Schweitzer noted.
Branson could not cut into the Ozark lead as they were forced into trying to shoot their way back into the game. The Pirates were led by Wood’s 15 points, Powell added 11.
Ozark will face Kickapoo in the District Championship Friday at 7:30 in Branson—their third time to play the Chiefs this year. Kickapoo won the previous two meetings but you can be sure that the Tigers will be ready for the challenge.
As Coach Schweitzer said, “It’ll be a good, old-fashioned district championship game.”
Ozark: 11, 19, 19, 16—65
Branson: 8, 16, 14, 9—47
Ozark: Bottoms, 9; Nelson, 5; Pickering, 5; Simmons, 14; Hewett-Newbill, 22; Hanks, 8; Osborn, 2
Branson: Powell, 11; Wood, 15; Sutton, 6; Myer, 4; Morrow, 6; Dapprich, 5
