By Chad Hayworth (for OzarksSportsZone.com)
PURDY — No. 1 seed Lockwood overcame a slow start Saturday, outscoring Thomas Jefferson 18-4 in the third quarter, to take the Class 2, District 12 crown, 64-51.
The Cavaliers scored seven of the first 11 points of the game and forced Lockwood coach Micah McIntire to burn two timeouts to try and rally his team.
“It’s been a theme for us,” McIntire said. “I think it’s got something to do with our preparation and warm-up. But sometimes, I think we just like to come from behind.”
Thomas Jefferson, the No. 3 seed, led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter, a margin they increased to 23-12 midway through the second.
“We had the right energy, the right rotations, everything we wanted to set the tempo early,” said Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers. “We really controlled the tempo in the first quarter and for most of the second.”
The Tigers whittled away at the Cavaliers’ lead throughout the second quarter, cutting the lead to 23-14 with 3:48 to play in the half and 26-19 with 2:50 to go.
With a minute to go in the half, Lockwood’s Sean Contreras, a junior, got a basket to cut the lead to 28-22, then stole the ball in the defensive end, drove for a basket and a foul – which he converted – and then made another steal and basket with 30 seconds to play.
“He got off to a slow start this year dealing with some injuries and stuff,” McIntire said. “He’s been huge for us. He plays with such a high motor and plays so hard.”
TJ’s Kohl Thurman got 2 points just before the halftime buzzer sounded, giving him 1,000 for his career, while giving his team a 30-27 lead at the break.
In the halftime locker room, McIntire told his team he thought they were in a pretty good position, especially considering the dozen turnovers they’d committed in the first half.
“In terms of adjustments, there wasn’t a whole lot,” he said. “The message was just calm down, settle in and take care of the ball.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The teams traded baskets early in the third, with the Cavaliers maintaining a three-point lead.
Lockwood took the lead, 35-34, with 2:58 to play in the quarter, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Contreras pushed the Lockwood lead to 41-24 with a minute to play.
Lockwood scored twice in the last 24 seconds to push their lead to 45-34 at the end of quarter.
“It’s hard to win games when you turn the ball over, and we turned it over a bunch in the third,” Myers said. “We dug ourselves a bit of a hole and you could just kind of feel the panic setting in.
“Our kids haven’t really been in a game like this, and they started to think about the fear of losing more that what it was going to take to win.”
Lockwood continued to push the lead, building to a 51-38 margin with 5:45 to play in the game. Back-to-back baskets for Thurman cut the lead to 54-45 with 4:13 to go.
During a timeout with just over three minutes to go, McIntire implored his team to slow down and try and bleed the clock. They didn’t.
“No we didn’t,” he said, grinning. “It worked out in our favor this time, but when you get to the point you have a lead there is a fine line to balance between not taking yourself out of your offense and not taking the first shot you see.”
The win gives the Tigers their first district title since 2017. McIntire, who is in his first year leading the Tigers, said he had an inkling his team could be good enough to compete for the district when the year started.
“I figured there would be bumps in the road,” he said. “And I knew it would take us some time to get to where we needed to be. We definitely got better from where we were at the beginning of the season.”
Across the gym, Myers said his the growth of his program is something his players can be proud of.
“This team was 3-27 two years ago, and 16-11 last year,” he said. “We set lofty goals for ourselves and really just came up one win from accomplishing most of our goals.”
Lockwood improves to 15-13 with the win, while Thomas Jefferson end the year 20-3.
Contreras led all scorers with 24 points, one ahead of the Cavaliers’ Thurman, with 23. Landry Ogden had 13 for Lockwood, while Braxton Garver had 11 and Roper Gray added 10 for the Tigers.
Jack Twiss scored 13 for the Cavaliers, while Will Triss added 8.
Lockwood will face District 13 champion Crane (25-3) at 6 p.m. Monday at Verona.
LOCKWOOD 8-19-18-19—64
THOMAS JEFFERSON 16-14-4-17—51
LW:Contreras 24, Ogden 13, Garver 11, Gray 10, Lilienkamp 4, Pittsenbarger 2
TJ: Thurman 23, JTwiss 13, WTwiss 8, Studer 3, Wisdom 2, Radius 2
