By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SEYMOUR, MO – The last time Seymour basketball won a district title, Adele was Rollin’ in the Deep.
Saturday must have felt like 2010 all over again, as the top-seeded Tigers downed No. 3 Greenwood 44-33 to capture the Class 3 District 10 championship.
For Seymour head coach Chris Hastings, a district title has been a constant pursuit during his 11 seasons with the school.
“This is my first one here, and it’s actually only our second one in school history,” Hastings said. “So, it’s extremely special, but we put these expectations on these boys at the beginning – all the way back to summer. For them to live it out and see the process each step of the way, it’s truly special.”
From the opening tip, Greenwood looked to play a spoiler role, as Kalen Hetzler spearheaded the Blue Jays’ attack.
Heltzer, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, scored 4 of his team-high 12 points in the opening quarter to stake Greenwood to a 11-10 lead.
At the other end of the court, Seymour quickly established its primary offensive weapon in senior Wyatt Henry.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Henry, a 6-foot-8 matchup problem, finished with a game-high 15 points on the evening.
In the first period, he scored on a back-door alley-oop dunk and then followed it up with a 3-pointer moments later.
As Greenwood tightened its defense, Henry shifted to facilitator in the second quarter and looked to move the ball to open teammates, including junior Truman Helms, who added 10 points for the Tigers.
“I’ve been dealing with that all year, really – just different teams have different plays and defenses for me,” Henry said. “It kind of opens up my capability for other things, so I really try to get it and dish it to my shooters and everything like that.”
While Seymour took a 22-17 advantage into the break, the Tigers were unable to stretch the lead until late in the second half.
Leading by a mere three points at the end of three (30-27), Seymour opened the final period with a quick 6-0 run to stretch its lead to 9 and finally find a bit of breathing room.
“We didn’t play our best basketball today,” Hastings said. “I think it was some nerves and the magnitude of the game, but in the fourth quarter, they came together and made winning plays. We’ve talked about that all year, and this has been a lead-up the past couple weeks. We’eve had some situations where there were some tight spots, and they’ve had to make plays in the fourth quarter, and I believe those games prepared us for this.”
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
Hastings also was quick to point to a midseason stretch where the Tigers lost four of five games – including two in the school’s own tournament – as a huge benefit for his team’s postseason mentality.
“That was the best thing to happen to us,” Hastings said. “We even said that the next day after we lost to Bakersfield in our own tournament. We said that’s going to be the best thing to happen to us, and it truly was – we were a different team from there on out. The attention to detail was amazing.”
Up next for Seymour (20-7) is a March 3 sectional round matchup in Houston against Liberty (Mountain View). The 26-2 Eagles rolled past Thayer in the District 9 championship.
CLASS 3 DISTRICT 10 FINAL: Seymour – 44, Greenwood – 33
Greenwood 11 06 08 08 | 33
Seymour 10 12 08 14 | 44
Greenwood scoring: Hetzler 12, Foster 6, Harrell 5, Morgan 4, Frederick 4, McConnell 2,
Seymour scoring: Wyatt Henry 15, Truman Helms 10, Nolan Henry 8, Braylon Johnson 6, Reece Hepko 5
