By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Clever seemingly had an answer for every Eminence run.
After trailing by 14 in the first half, the Jays scored 13 of the half’s final 16 points to cut the deficit to four. And, after trailing by 13 in the third quarter, the Jays put together a quick 7-0 spurt that prompted Eminence head coach Pete McBride to call a timeout with a special message for his team.
“Good teams have runs made against them.”
Simple and sweet, the message worked.
The Redwings ended the quarter with a 13-2 run en route to an 82-68 win over Clever Saturday in the Ozark Mountain Shootout hosted by Glendale.
“It was a game of runs,” said McBride. “They ran at us in the first half and we didn’t handle it very well; we’re lucky halftime came. Good teams handle those and we did today, we just have to stop the bleeding a little sooner.”
Keying the run was 6-foot-6 junior Trent McBride.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
McBride scored a game-high 32 points and with 20 rebounds, including 13 points and six rebounds in the third quarter. He entered Saturday averaging 25 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Clever’s roster features no player taller than 6-foot-3. The Jays allowed 17 second-chance points and 13 offensive rebounds.
“We were soft out there today,” said Clever coach Luke Brosius. “We saw a big kid in there and got soft. He’s a big body with a soft touch around the rim and good footwork. We didn’t drive him out, we watched the ball and tried to out jump a 6-foot-6 kid.”
Seniors Devan Hampton and Caleb Peck scored 18 points each for Clever.
For Class 1 Eminence, Saturday represented another opportunity to get a quality game against a team they don’t typically see. Clever, a Class 3 program, won the SWCL last year and has averaged 20 wins a season for the past two seasons.
The Redwings, who won a state championship in 2013, continue to build towards another Final Four run.
“The whole trip was big for us,” said McBride. “We came up yesterday and practiced at Catholic and went to the Missouri State game. It was a chance for us to be together, play in a different environment against a team we don’t usually see. All of those things help you build towards where you want to be at the end.”
