Brett Krisik avoided a fifth foul, and the Ozark Tigers dodged a final-minute surge from Mt. Vernon on Friday night. Zane Phillips' 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good for Mt. Vernon as Ozark claimed a 59-58 victory in the Blue Division semifinals.
Ozark plays Nixa in the Blue Division title game Saturday at 6 p.m. at JQH Arena. Parkview and Republic follow in the Gold Division finals.
The Mountaineers missed three shots in the final 45 seconds while trailing by one point. Their initial shot was no good, but the ball rolled off the hands of two Ozark players and went out of bounds.
Mt. Vernon would miss on its second attempt, then foul Ozark senior Jakob Neidig with 20 seconds remaining. Neidig missed the front end of a one and one free throw situation, and Mt. Vernon grabbed the rebound.
After a timeout, Mt. Vernon had its plan – get the ball into the hands of either Shane Williams or Zane Phillips. But Mt. Vernon couldn’t find any opener shooter against the Ozark zone defense, and time ticked down.
Ozark finally committed a foul, but only its fifth team foul of the half, with 1.6 seconds remaining.
“They did a nice job of defending, you have to give them credit,” said Mt. Vernon coach Skip Brock. “That’s a situation where you hate to leave a timeout on the table, I probably should have taken it. But we had guys out there that can make plays, I really thought one of them would be able to make it.
“But again, credit Ozark. That was a great defensive stand.”
Ozark stayed in its zone for the in-bounds play, nearly forcing a 5-second violation, and was able to contest Phillips’ 3-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer.
“It would have been a lot easier if we had taken of things before,” said Ozark coach Steve Hunter. “We actually had to get two stops at the end… The foul, I’d like to tell you that was by design, but I looked up at the scoreboard and was glad to see they weren’t in the one and one.”
Ozark led for most of the game, but not by much. The Tigers’ biggest lead was seven points.
Luke Call’s 3-pointer put Mt. Vernon ahead 58-57 with 2:20 to go. Brett Krisik, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, had a putback to make it 59-58 one minute later.
Krisik played much of the fourth quarter with four fouls.
“We were on him about not playing very good defense, and then he got himself in foul trouble, but he actually played better with the four fouls,” Hunter said. “Obviously, that’s not by design… Everybody has a down game, but he ended up playing better and making a big difference for us.”
Mt. Vernon plays West Plains in the Blue Division third-place game Saturday at 3 p.m.
“The first two plays of the game are just as important as the last two plays,” Brock said. “There were stretches there where we didn’t rebound very well. We obviously missed some free throws. It’s a great learning experience for us, a Class 3 team, to have a chance like that.”
Ozark 59, Mt. Vernon 58 (Blue Division semifinals)
Mt. Vernon 18 9 18 13 --- 58
Ozark 19 13 17 10 --- 59
Mt. Vernon – Zane Phillips 16, Chandler Myers 15, Shane Williams 14, Luke Call 11, Braden Adams 2
Ozark – Brett Krisik 17, Korbin Evans 10, Jakob Neidig 9, Tyler Clanton 9, Heath Carmichael 6, Noah Nelson 6, Nick Cookinham 2
Nixa 85, West Plains 51 (Blue Division semifinals) STORY PHOTOS
West Plains 17 5 16 13 --- 51
Nixa 26 30 17 12 --- 85
West Plains – Taylor Gill 13, Cole Butler 11, Justin Davis 9, Seth Pingleton 9, Zach Flippin 4, Dalton Freshour 3, Dusty Harrill 2
Nixa – Austin Ruder 17, Jalen Norman 16, Bryce Dulin 15, Jacob Ruder 9, Chan Hocklander 8, Carney Wilmes 7, Chris Bettis 6, Athan Lummis 3, Joey Mease 2, Wes Middleton 2
Republic 58, Branson 55 (Gold Division semifinals) PHOTOS
Branson overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to twice take a one-point lead. Da'Quan Ervin's 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good for Branson.Branson 6 18 4 27 --- 55
Republic 13 17 11 17 --- 58
Branson – Kendall Willard 13, Da’Quan Ervin 11, Thatch Unruh 10, Drew Russell 9, Chandler Hall 9, Isaiah Daniels 3
Republic – Dylan Bekemeier 17
Parkview 47, Bolivar 41 (Gold Division semifinals) PHOTOS
Bolivar 2 12 7 20 --- 41
Parkview 11 8 13 15 --- 47
Bolivar – Chance Rash 21, Evan Roberts 7, Coday Garrison 6, Devin Archer 3, Bryce Krueger 2, Tim Lovell 2
Parkview – Erik Durham 35, AJ Green 7, Nathan Reichart 4, Autry Accord 1
OTHER BLUE AND GOLD GAMES
Morrisville 43, Ava 36 (Blue Division consolation semifinals)
Morrisville 6 9 10 18 --- 43
Ava 6 4 15 11 --- 36
Ava – Ben Loge 17, Austin Gastineau 9, Chase Gastineau 4, Brandon Guengerich 4, John Luebbering 2
Morrisville – Brevin Hill 11, Brandon Bell 10, Dustin Hargus 8, Johnnie Pottorff 8, Josh Devino 2, Darian Potts 2, Rylan Hill 2
Camdenton 51, Fair Grove 40 (Blue Division consolation semifinals)
Fair Grove 10 10 10 10 --- 40
Camdenton 6 12 11 22 --- 51
Fair Grove – Jayden Happel 11, Deric Link 11, Brock Derrick 10, Michael Thomas 6, Jake Maggard 2
Camdenton – Kullen Carlock 19, Ryan Elliot 8, Zach Brown 8, Jake Decker 6, John Hyde 4, Michael Hake 4, Jordan Knight 2
Skyline 62, Clever 56 (Gold Division consolation semifinals)
Skyline 17 19 9 17 --- 62
Clever 12 15 9 20 --- 56
Skyline – Trey West 22, Tyler Curts 14, Dylan Mountain 13, Jordan Edge 5, Harley Kays 4, Logan Bryan 2, Jared Freddie 2
Clever – Matt Hamilton 22, Ryan Farmer 15, Dalton Fisher 13, Colton Pemberton 4, Travis Pennewell 2
Spokane 47, Greenwood 38 (Gold Division consolation semifinals)
Spokane 12 18 7 10 --- 47
Greenwood 11 10 7 10 --- 38
Spokane – Hunter Bishop 17, Christian Brown 13, Storm Price 11, Eric Bowman 3, Brandon Cloud 3
Greenwood – Nathan Carmichael 19, Riley Keith 9, Austin Carmichael 7, Caleb Morlan 3
E-Mail
Print
