Mountain Grove torched the nets for a quarter. From there, defending Class 3 state champion Barstow put the defensive clamps on any chances of a Hoosiers-like upset.
Led by the trio of Jeriah Horne, Shea Rush and Jacob Gilyard, Barstow controlled the game over the final three quarters to answer Mountain Grove’s early surge and defeat the Panthers 63-49 in the Show-Me Showdown Class 3 semifinals Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.
GAME PHOTOS: BARSTOW VS. MOUNTAIN GROVE
Leading 24-15 after the first quarter, Mountain Grove scored a combined seven points over the next two quarters and wound up trailing by 13 going into the fourth.
“You normally say it’s a game of two halves, but it was a game of two quarters,” said Panthers coach Duane Hiler. “Part of that time we had good looks, but a lot of that time… gosh, (Barstow) can guard when they want to. When you have that kind of athleticism, all over the floor, they can tend to put a lot of pressure on you.”
Senior D.J. McNew shot the Panthers into an early lead. McNew had 14 points in the first quarter alone, going 5-for-6 from the field including 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
As a team, the Panthers made five of their first six 3-point attempts. Mountain Grove made 3 of 16 such attempts the rest of the way.
“Tough, scrappy team,” said Barstow coach Billy Thomas. “Watching (Mountain Grove) on film doesn’t do them justice. They’re one of the better shooting teams we’ve faced. Their kids are fearless.”
McNew ended up scoring just four more points, finishing with a team-high 18, as Barstow focused more defensive attention on Mountain Grove’s top scorer.
Cade Coffman’s 3-pointer at the 5:52 mark accounted for Mountain Grove’s only basket of the second quarter. Tied 27-all at halftime, Barstow scored 13 unanswered to start the second half. Mountain Grove never got closer than nine points the rest of the game.
“We got off to a hot start and as we got hotter, (Barstow) kept putting pressure on us and we didn’t handle it very well in the second quarter and third quarter,” McNew said.
Also key to Mountain Grove’s early success was defense. The Panthers had already taken four charges by the halfway point of the second quarter.
“I thought we did a good job defensively, especially early,” Hiler said. “We scouted well enough to know (Horne) is probably going to go two dribbles left then spin back, and when he does, we need to be there to try to take the charge and make (Rush) shoot outside.”
Barstow, which retuned all five starters from a team that beat Strafford 61-46 in the Class 3 finals last season and was runner-up in 2014, is led by a trio of future Division I players.
Horne, a 6’7” 230-pound senior and Nebraska commit, finished with a game-high 25 points and 8 rebounds on 10-for-13 shooting from the field. Rush, a 6’5” wing who plans to walk-on at North Carolina, had 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Hiler gave his biggest praise to Barstow’s speedy junior point guard, Gilyard, who’s receiving interest from the likes of Alabama-Birmingham, Missouri-Kansas City and Portland.
Gilyard had 13 points and made three treys, keeping Barstow in the game early amid Mountain Grove’s hot start.
“Gilyard, good lord, I don’t know how you contain him,” Hiler said. “He is quick on quick on quick.”
Between them, Horne, Rush and Gilyard took 42 of Barstow’s 46 total shot attempts in the game.
A 3-pointer by Cade Coffman early in the fourth quarter ended a significant Mountain Grove drought and brought the Panthers within 46-36. Before that basket, the Panthers had scored nine total points over roughly 18 minutes of game time.
BOX SCORE: BARSTOW VS. MOUNTAIN GROVE
McNew nearly made the play of the game late in the fourth when he attempted a two-handed, putback dunk over multiple Barstow defenders underneath the basket.
“I was pretty confident that I’d dunk it back in,” McNew said. “I got about halfway up and the ball came out of my hands. I’ve had a couple of those (putback dunks).”
Class 3 No. 2-ranked Barstow (26-3 overall) takes on No. 1 Father Tolton Regional Catholic at 12:50 p.m. Saturday in the Class 3 title game, an all-private school matchup. Barstow is from Jackson County in Kansas City, while Father Tolton – located in Columbia – is enjoying playing in its home city this weekend.
Mountain Grove meets Whitfield (25-6 overall) for 3rd place at 12:45 p.m. Friday at Mizzou Arena.
“We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves and we don’t do that anyway,” Hiler said. “We’ll show up, we’ll compete. These kids always do. They’re tough kids.”
Barstow 63, Mountain Grove 49
Mountain Grove 24 3 4 18 — 49
Barstow 15 12 17 19 — 63
Mountain Grove – D.J. McNew 18, Brock Coffman 16, Thomas Clifton 7, Cade Coffman 6, Carter Otwell 2
Barstow – Jeriah Horne 25, Shea Rush 14, Jacob Gilyard 13, Tripp Walsworth 7, Jared Gillen 4
