By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Camdenton coach Craig Campbell said free throw shooting had been his team’s Achilles’ heel all season.
“As a team we haven’t shot above 50 percent all year,” said Campbell.
But Campbell’s Lakers were clutch at the line on Wednesday, making nine-straight free throws down the stretch to pull out a 60-55 win in overtime against rival Lebanon in the first round of the 73rd Annual Blue & Gold basketball tournament at JQH Arena in Springfield.
“I don’t know what we ended up shooting tonight but I know we made several more than we have in the past,” Campbell said.
Camdenton finished the day making 15-of-24 free throws, good for 62.5 percent.
After six lead changes in the fourth quarter, Lebanon took a 49-47 lead in the final minute and had momentum and the ball after a Camdenton turnover. That changed in a matter of seconds, however, after the Yellowjackets were whistled for a technical foul with 46 seconds remaining.
Camdenton junior Paxton DeLaurent sank both free throws to tie the game, and then fired a long three-pointer in the final seconds for the win but missed. Lebanon got the rebound but promptly traveled with 1.3 seconds on the clock, and Camdenton senior Kelton Virtue put up a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer but couldn’t connect.
The Lakers didn’t waste any time taking control in the extra period. Camdenton won the tip and scored four seconds later when senior TJ Anderson found senior Luke Eveland for an easy basket.
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Virtue made two free throws at the 2:51 mark to make it a four-point game, and then the Camdenton defense forced Lebanon to eat more than a minute-and-a-half off the clock before Lebanon senior Brady Hays scored with 1:13 left to play.
DeLaurent added two more free throws at the 1:02 mark to make it 55-51. Lebanon senior Dawson Zimdars scored and was fouled with 40 seconds left but missed the free throw. Two seconds later, Camdenton’s Virtue was perfect at the line again to extend the lead to 57-53.
Anderson added a free throw with 27 seconds remaining and added a field goal a few seconds later to put the Lakers ahead by seven.
Lebanon junior Quenton Shelton scored with two seconds left for the final points of the game.
“Coming out of Christmas break you never really know how you’re going to play,” Campbell said. “I thought we came out and played the way we needed to the first half. We kind of got away from it the second half. When we play fast we usually are better. We did that the first half. Second half we struggled a little bit more. The big thing is when we needed to get stops we were able to get stops coming down the stretch.
“Lebanon’s a very solid ball club,” he said. “They’re a team that’s going to win a lot of games this year. They’re our big rival so if the guys aren’t fired up for that game then they probably won’t get fired up for any game.”
Camdenton led by as many as seven points in the first half. It was 13-6 before Lebanon rattled off a 13-3 run to lead 19-16 with five minutes left in the second quarter. The Lakers came back to lead 30-23 in the final minute of the half and led by five at the break.
The Lakers led 34-27 early in the third quarter, but Lebanon’s Shelton took control of the game at that point and scored 15-straight for the Yellowjackets. His steal, layup and free throw in the final minute of the third put Lebanon on top 42-39.
He finished with a game-high 31 points.
Camdenton took the lead again early in the fourth on a four-point play by senior Keegan Ford, who was fouled while making a three pointer from the right side.
“The Shelton kid, he’s a good ball player,” Campbell said. “He plays year-round. He’s very good with one dribble pull-up shots. That’s his bread and butter. Doesn’t matter if it’s 15 feet, 10 feet, a three pointer, that’s his go-to is a one dribble pull-up. He’s a good player. It’s one of those we knew if we could limit him we’d have a really good shot to beat them.”
He was limited to six points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Camdenton was led by DeLaurent’s 18 points and Anderson’s 17. Shelton was the only Yellowjacket to score in double figures.
“The five guys on the floor there in overtime when we were making them run clock were huge,” Campbell said. “Brandon Pasley, TJ Anderson – who I thought did a really good job on Shelton, Paxton DeLaurent, Luke Eveland and Kelton Virtue. Those five guys did a great job playing defense.”
Camdenton, 4-3, will play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals against Marshfield, which beat Glendale 59-56 on Wednesday. That game will be inside JQH Arena.
Lebanon, 4-4, will play Glendale at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Hammons Student Center.
