After making just enough winning plays down the stretch, the Webb City Cardinals now have a chance to repeat as Kaminsky Classic champions.
In a clash between state-ranked squads, Webb City scored the game’s final three points for a 57-55 victory over William Chrisman in the semifinals of Joplin High School’s annual tourney on Friday night.
“We made winning plays against a good team,” Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. “When we needed to make plays, we showed poise. We got stops when we needed to. You have to give a lot of credit to William Chrisman. They’re big, they’re physical and they’re athletic. They’re ranked in our class for a reason. It was an opportunity to get a marquee win and our kids took advantage of that opportunity.”
After leading for most of the night, the Cardinals found themselves down one with 40 seconds left.
Webb City went ahead for good when Cohl Vaden scored from in close with 17 seconds left after a nice feed from Dante Washington.
“We run a high post offense and make reads off of that,” Horn said. “Vaden was able to slip his screen. He made a great read. Dante was poised and had a great find. Cohl made a play with some big dudes inside around the basket. Fortunately, he was able to finish that off. He did a great job.”
Cohl Vaden scores the go-ahead hoop for Webb City on Friday night. All photos by Shawn Fowler.
The Bears turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and then committed a foul.
Washington, who had the steal on the other end, sank the first of two free throws with 10 seconds on the clock to make it a three-point game.
“Dante played well,” Horn said. “Shots weren’t falling for him, but he played with great effort.”
William Chrisman’s Jessie Minter took a last-second 3-point attempt from the corner, but the shot was off the mark.
After winning the tourney in 2021, Webb City will meet Joplin at 3:30 on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s title game.
Horn noted his squad would love to repeat as tourney champions.
“We’re just happy to be back in the championship game,” Horn said. “We’re pleased we’re getting a chance to defend the tourney championship.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Webb City’s Trey Roets looks to score inside against William Chrisman on Friday night in the semifinals of the Kaminsky Classic. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Ranked eighth in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Webb City improved to 8-2 on the season.
The Cardinals made 20 of 54 field goal attempts (37 percent), including 4 of 17 from long distance.
Four players scored in double figures for Webb City. Washington and Max Higginbotham scored 14 points apiece, while Kaden Turner added 12 points and Trey Roets had 10.
Turner grabbed nine rebounds and Roets had eight boards. Vaden contributed seven assists and seven points.
Webb City had 20 points off William Chrisman’s 16 turnovers and also had 32 points in the paint.
Ranked ninth in Class 5, William Chrisman fell to 8-4. The Bears, who out-rebounded the Cardinals 43-29, made 22 of 56 shots from the floor (39 percent), going 6 of 16 on 3-pointers.
Minter scored 12 points and Cam Dickerson added 10 for the Bears.
GAME RECAP
Higginbotham came off the bench and scored 11 points in the first half for the Cardinals, who led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter and 23-18 at halftime.
Webb City’s Max Higginbotham knocks down a 3-pointer against William Chrisman on Friday night at Joplin High School.
A senior guard, Higginbotham made four 3-pointers in the game, three in the first half.
“Max played great,” Horn said. “He did things tonight we thought he could do all along. He went out, hit shots and made plays. We’re happy for him.”
In the third quarter, four points from Roets and a trey from Higginbotham gave Webb City its biggest lead at 33-24, but the Bears responded with a 7-0 run.
The Cardinals were clinging to a 37-34 advantage at the end of the third period.
Capped by a putback inside by Minter, the Bears used a 7-2 run to take a 45-43 advantage with five minutes left, their first since the first period.
The two teams traded the lead for the next several minutes.
A corner trey from Dickerson gave William Chrisman a 53-52 lead with 1:38 remaining, but the Cardinals went back in front on Turner’s strong drive through the lane after an offensive rebound.
“KT rebounded the ball well and finished several big plays inside,” Horn noted. “He had those two dunks that were momentum swingers and just did a great job tonight.”
Chrisman’s Minter knocked down a pull-up jumper near the foul line with 40 seconds left, giving the Bears a 55-54 lead.
Webb City scored the final three points of the game before recording one last defensive stop.
Although the Cardinals led for all but three minutes, the game featured 13 lead changes and three ties.
Dante Washington makes a layup during the semifinals of the Kaminsky Classic. Photos by Shawn Fowler.
POPLAR BLUFF 69, CARL JUNCTION 40
Poplar Bluff took control early, as the Mules doubled up the Bulldogs in the first quarter, 18-9.
Poplar Bluff extended its lead to 34-20 by intermission.
Carl Junction’s deficit was 23 entering the fourth quarter.
Poplar Bluff shot 42 percent for the game (27 of 65). In a game they never trailed, the Mules out-rebounded the Bulldogs 48-31.
The Mules had 44 points in the paint to Carl Junction’s 14, and Poplar Bluff scored 30 points off CJ’s 18 turnovers. The fast-break points were 17-0 in Poplar Bluff’s favor.
Darian Webb scored 18 points on 6 of 15 shooting for Poplar Bluff (9-3), while Torrence Williams recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Gate Rivers handed out six assists.
Carl Junction made 13 of 44 field goal attempts (30 percent), including 5 of 22 from long range.
Ayden Bard and Josh Cory scored seven points apiece for Carl Junction (3-9), while Ky Warren and Xavier Perkins added six points apiece.
Cory also contributed seven rebounds and three steals.
Carl Junction meets Nevada for seventh place at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
The annual event is sponsored by Freeman Sports Medicine and the Joplin Sports Authority.
Webb City’s Kaden Turner battles William Chrisman’s Sir’Rahn Felix and Jessie Minter for a rebound during Friday’s semifinal contest of the Kaminsky Classic. All photos by Shawn Fowler.
Led by the Wright brothers, Joplin is heading back to the Kaminsky Classic championship game after rallying from a first-quarter deficit to defeat Francis Howell 69-60 in the semifinals on Friday night inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The Vikings (9-5) hammered the offensive boards in the first quarter to build an 18-10 advantage going into the second period. The Eagles (9-1) rallied behind a staunch defensive effort that sparked a 14-0 run to take a 26-25 lead into the intermission. After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Joplin used another long scoring run to take the lead. The Eagles extended the cushion to double digits in the fourth period on the way to the win.
Joplin sophomore guard All Wright drives to the hoop in the Eagles win over Francis Howell in the Kaminsky Classic semifinals. Wright finished with a game-high 35 points in the win. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND
The host Eagles are playing in the Kaminsky Classic championship game for the second straight season, and they will be facing the same opponent again—the Webb City Cardinals. A year ago, the Cardinals defeated the Eagles 65-55 in the title game last season. The matchup is set for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“You want to represent your home base,” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said about the prospects of his Eagles playing for a Kaminsky Classic title. “You don’t want someone else holding up a trophy on your home floor. I told the guys to go do this. What I like about these (games) is it’s kind of a situation like (the postseason). This is a good indicator, but no one should hold a trophy on your floor. So, take pride in it and let’s go do it.”
STAT LEADERS
All Wright led all scorers with 35 points — the largest single-game scoring total for the Kaminsky Classic in the last five years. He shot 11-of-20 from the field, made four 3-pointers and was 9-of-14 shooting at the charity stripe. Always Wright finished with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He added four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Donovan Sparks led Francis Howell in scoring with 23 points to go along with six rebounds. Gabe James added 17 points, while Booker Simmons finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
“He is a competitive kid,” Schaake said of All Wright’s performance. “Sometimes, I have to bring him back a little bit, but I’d rather have kids like that than having to fire them up to be competitive. … (The Wright brothers) both have really great basketball IQs. They are very diverse and can do everything well.”
GAME ACTION
Francis Howell had a clear advantage in rebounding in the first quarter, particularly on the offensive end. The Vikings grabbed eight offensive boards in the first eight minutes, leading to a 10-0 advantage in second-chance scoring.
Francis Howell built a 10-point lead in the first period when Sparks grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback score, drawing a foul on the bucket for a three-point play to make the score 15-5 with 2:36 on the clock.
Joplin’s Terrance Gibson, who finished with nine rebounds, cut the lead to 18-10 with a steal going the other way for a dunk on the break in the closing seconds.
Francis Howell pushed the lead back to 10 with the first bucket in the second quarter, but the Eagles answered with a 14-0 run to take the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter. Joplin limited Francis Howell to 3-for-11 shooting (27 percent) in the second period, holding the Vikings off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes of action while Always and All Wright took over on the other end. Always started and ended the run with 3-pointers, while All filled it out with two 3-pointers sandwiched around a bucket on the drive.
“Maybe one of these times we will actually start a game playing good defense,” Schaake said with a smile. “When we start moving and rotating, we have some pretty athletic kids who are starting to figure it out. We were more energetic in the second quarter with more deflections and rebounding to try and get into our transition offense. If we can do that consistently, we are a pretty tough team.”
The Eagles took a 26-25 advantage into the fourth quarter but it didn’t last long, as the lead changed hands five times through the first half of the quarter. Joplin trailed 37-33 before using a 10-0 run to take the lead for good, 43-37, with 1:22 to play in the third.
All Wright, who scored the first 12 points of the third and 14 total in the period for the Eagles, kicked off the run with a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer from the top of the key before All Wright knocked down a mid-range jumper and added a three-point play to close out the run.
Joplin took a 45-41 lead into the final eight minutes of play and methodically pushed the lead to double digits when Always Wright buried a 3-ball with less than four minutes in regulation, playing with that margin through the final horn.
“I have noticed with these guys as they are getting through it that they are closing quarters out better, which is what you want to see,” Schaake said. “It’s showing that they are going in the right direction. They are going in the right direction, staying focused and trying to play a full 32-minute game.”
JEFFERSON CITY 60, NEVADA 25
Jefferson City built a double-digit lead by the intermission and limited Nevada to five points in the second half on the way to the win in the consolation semifinals on Friday.
The Jays (6-6) shot 51 percent from the field in the win, while the Tigers (1-10) were limited to 30 percent shooting in the loss.
Nevada had 22 turnovers in the loss, while Jefferson City finished with just nine and led in points off turnovers, 28-7. The Jays also held the advantage in points in the paint (32-12), second-chance points (18-5) and fast-break points (16-4).
Jefferson City had three players in double-figure scoring, led by Landon Vance’s 13 points and four rebounds. Steven Samuels finished with 12 points and four rebounds, while Kevion Pendelton scored 10 points and had three rebounds and two assists.
Cade Beshore led Nevada in scoring with eight points, while Leo Gayman had seven points and five rebounds. Owen Swearingen had six points and two blocks.
Nevada takes on Carl Junction in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
LOCUST GROVE, Okla. — The Neosho boys basketball team’s bid to advance to the championship game of the Locust Grove Tournament fell just short, as Verdigris edged the Wildcats 55-53 in the semifinals on Friday.
K’dyn Waters scored 30 points for Neosho, while Kael Smith had 11 points and Isaiah Green added 10.
Lucas Lechlider scored 24 points for Verdigris and Brant Teague added 15.
Neosho will play for third place on Saturday.
Also of note, Neosho’s girls earned a 55-28 win over Nathan Hale at the Locust Grove Tournament. No other information on the game was available at press time.
Thomas Jefferson boys basketball started fast and never looked back in a win over Jasper on Friday.
“The boys did a lot of good things,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said to SoMo Sports. “This was our first game since December 13, so we had some rust to knock off for sure. I am proud of the effort the kids had tonight.”
The Cavaliers (7-2) outscored the Eagles 21-6 in the first quarter, and won every quarter after that to build the insurmountable lead up by the final horn.
Drew Goodhope led Thomas Jefferson with a career-high 27 points, including three 3-pointers. Jay Ball had 23 points and 14 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Tyler Brouhard had seven points in the win and Jake Jarrett finished with eight rebounds and four assists.
Jasper was led by Wyatt Cawyer, who finished with 16 points.
Thomas Jefferson takes on Sarcoxie on Monday.
JASPER GIRLS 50, THOMAS JEFFERSON 30
Thomas Jefferson trailed by two at the intermission before Jasper outscored the Cavaliers 30-12 in the second half en route to the win.
Jasper was led in scoring by Crystal Smith’s 20 points, while Mercedez Scott finished with 12. Bailey Adams added six and Shiloh Storm.
Thomas Jefferson was led in scoring by Nico Carlson’s 10 points. Alivia Beard added nine points. Gabbi Hiebert scored five, while Tannah Cassatt, Sarah Mueller and Lannah Grigg finished with two points each.
Thomas Jefferson matches up with Southwest on Tuesday.
