By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Springfield, Mo. — Season tip-offs don’t get much better than Tuesday’s Class 3 showdown between No. 6 Mountain Grove and Springfield Catholic.
Nor do they get much closer.
The Panthers, playing without senior Carter Otwell, survived a second-half Irish rally, sluggish free-throw shooting and Jake Branham’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer to down Catholic 68-65.
Otwell, Mountain Grove’s starting quarterback, played most of the season with a considerable ankle injury.
Mountain Grove head coach Duane Hiler praised his team for the big, early-season victory.
“Nothing like coming right out of the chute and playing someone of this caliber,” Hiler said. “You had two teams out here just busting it, and we happened to catch a few breaks. I’m proud of our kids and proud of the way they competed. We played a man down with Carter sitting on the bench, and we didn’t blink an eye.”
The Panthers found success early on the perimeter, with Conner McNew, Cade Coffman and Dylan Massey each hitting 3-pointers in the opening frame.
Hiler attributed the long-range success to Catholic’s early focus on driving lanes.
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“I thought that they kind of backed off of us a little bit and gave us looks,” Hiler said. “Honestly, we feel we can throw five kids on the floor that can all shoot the 3, so it’s not like anybody doesn’t have a green light, and most of them don’t have a conscience, either, so it works out well.”
McNew also caused problems for the Irish front line, working mostly inside for a game-high 22 points. The senior talked about the importance of a quick start and big early road win for Mountain Grove.
“It gave us a lot of confidence, but when we get Carter Otwell back we’ll be a whole different team,” McNew said. “He means a lot to us.”
Hiler was quick to praise McNew’s performance.
“I thought [McNew] did a great job,” Hiler said. “The best thing he did was he read when he had a mismatch and then did a lot of work on the inside. He’s a big, strong country kid that really knows how to get in there and battle, but the biggest thing was he got it in there and finished.”
While the Panthers took at 29-24 lead into the half, a balanced Catholic attack out of the break gave the Irish a 44-43 lead after three.
Unfortunately for Catholic, mounting foul problems forced head coach Dustin Larson into a substitution game down the stretch.
“We were just trying to keep everyone on the floor best we could,” Larson said. “I thought our guys kept being aggressive, kept guarding and we did a good job of keeping it close. They’re a really good basketball team and are very experienced, which is what I think we needed to see early.”
The fast-starting Panthers sputtered at the free throw line in the second half, shooting 1-8 in the third quarter and finishing the game 24-44.
With the score tied late in the game, McNew and Coffman tried to help one another push through the struggles.
“Me and Cade were talking to each other saying we need to just breath and make free throws, because we can make them,” McNew said. “We missed a couple down the stretch, but we made more than we missed.”
The game’s turning point occurred with just under four minutes remaining.
After hitting back-to-back shots to give Catholic a 52-50 lead, O’Reilly was whistled for his fourth foul and headed to the bench.
Sensing an opportunity, Mountain Grove went on a 9-1 run on baskets from junior Dawson Hiler, Massey and Coffman.
The surge put the Panthers up 59-53 and allowed enough breathing room to hold off a final Catholic rally.
“These kids; it’s not their first rodeo,” Hiler said. “You just keep grinding. Most of these kids have already been to two final fours. It’s not a stranger to them, and they just don’t buckle. They’re good kids that compete hard and, when you do that, a lot of times good things happen.”
For Catholic, the opening-night challenge gave the Irish an opportunity to size up a potential postseason opponent.
“We really learned a lot about our team and really grew through the whole game,” Larson said. “Early on, we had some opportunities and shots weren’t falling. We weren’t getting great movement in our motion, but our guys just stuck together, kept playing and trusted each other.”
After being held to just a single basket in the first half, Catholic’s Branham erupted in the second, scoring 15 of his team-high 18 points.
Branham, along with fellow juniors Charlie O’Reilly and Mike Manzardo keyed Catholic’s big second-half surge, and all three finished in double figures. O’Reilly matched Branham’s 18 points on the evening, while Manzardo chipped in with 14.
Following a brief break, both teams are back in action after the holiday. Mountain Grove (1-0) travels to Hartville on Dec. 4, while Catholic (0-1) opens play against Aurora in the Clever Invitational Nov. 27. The Irish are the top seed in the eight-team bracket.
Varsity final: Mountain Grove – 68, Springfield Catholic – 65
Mountain Grove 19 10 14 25 — 68
Springfield Catholic 10 14 20 21 — 65
Mountain Grove scoring: Connor McNew – 22, Cade Coffman – 19, Dylan Massey – 14, Dawson Hiler – 11, Hayden Newberry – 2
Springfield Catholic scoring: Charlie O’Reilly – 18, Jake Branham – 18, Mike Manzardo – 14, Tyson Riley – 7, Ian Cochran – 4, Brett Maes – 2, Wallace Squibb – 2
JV final: Catholic – 43, Mountain Grove – 37
(Tyler Welch – 9 points)
Frosh final: Catholic – 29, Mountain Grove – 18
(Trenton Webster – 9 points)
