Day: January 15, 2022

Joplin built a nine-point advantage early and held off several pushes at the lead by Branson before pulling away late to a 79-57 Central Ozark Conference win over the Pirates on Friday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.

“Tuesday night (against Webb City) was a hard-fought game between two good teams,” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said after his team earned a bounce-back conference win on Friday. “I don’t think we guarded well tonight, but we did enough. Offensively, I thought we looked smoother. We are getting into the paint, too, which is what we needed to do.”

The Eagles, who improved to 11-2 and 1-1 in conference play, finished with three players in double-figure scoring. Sophomore guard All Wright knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points, while senior guard Always Wright converted eight times from the field for 17 points. Sophomore forward Whit Hafer, who lost most of a year of development as a freshman last season because of an injury, had 12 points in the win. Junior forward Terrance Gibson finished with eight points.

“I feel like I am getting a lot more confident,” Hafer said about his growth in his first full season at the varsity level. “The flow of the game is coming back to me and slowing down in my head. That’s a big part of it. The confidence that comes with that has allowed me to move very fast. Missing that year of development, it was hard to get back.”

“We have a good rotation going right now,” Schaake said about staggering Gibson’s and Hafer’s time on the floor together in order to always have a conventional big in play. “Calvin (Clark) has been getting better, too. We have some bigs we can rotate who play different styles of basketball and that helps.”

Branson (5-8, 0-2 COC) was led in scoring by Ethan Jones’ 19 points. Kyle Scharbrough finished with 18 points, and Jack VanSickle closed with 10 in the loss.

GAME ACTION

Joplin limited Branson to two field goals and three free throws in the first eight minutes of action while building a nine-point lead.

Leading 4-3, Joplin scored seven straight points to take an 11-3 lead backed by an inside bucket from Hafer, a dunk on the break off a turnover by Always Wright and a layup off the break by Brantley Morris. All Wright closed the first quarter with a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 16-7 lead heading into the second quarter.

All Wright continued his strong play with a driving score to kick off the second quarter, giving the Eagles their first double-digit lead of the game, 18-7. 

It was a back-and-forth game over the next four-plus minutes of action before Branson trimmed the deficit to five, 29-24, off three straight field goals from Scharbrough, which included a 3-pointer, with less than three minutes to play.

Joplin closed the first half on an 8-2 run with field goals from Always Wright and Bruce Wilbert to lead 37-26 at the intermission.

“I think a lot of it is they are still figuring me out, too,” Schaake said when talking about his team’s ability to respond to adversity, which was on display several times against the Pirates. “I am trying to motivate them in a sense and they are responding well.”

Joplin methodically pushed the lead out to a more comfortable position in the third quarter, using a 9-4 run towards the later stages to build an 18-point advantage, 57-39. Hafer filled out the run with a pair of dunks, while Quin Renfro scored on the drive and All Wright knocked down a 3-ball.

“When you go from freshman to varsity, especially when you don’t get a full freshman year, it takes a long time to adjust to the speed of the game,” Schaake has said of Hafer’s development on the court this season. “That’s what people don’t understand. But, he is a big kid with bounce. He is a very athletic kid who has been putting in extra work. He’s been coming in early in the morning at about 7:30 a.m. and working on his game, and it is paying off for him. He is very coachable and he has a very high ceiling.”

Joplin took a 57-41 lead into the final period, but Branson rallied to cut the lead to 60-49 less than three minutes in. The Eagles answered with an 11-2 run to push the lead to 20 points with a little more than three minutes to play. 

Renfro scored on the drive before All Wright converted inside while drawing contact for a three-point play. Always Wright and Morris added buckets before All Wright sank two charities with 3:13 left to make the score 71-51, giving Joplin an insurmountable lead while closing out the conference win.

“They are listening,” Schaake said about his team’s development to this point in his first season as head coach. “I think they are starting to see the success and are adding to it. They are starting to figure out one another in terms of chemistry, and so am I with them—still trying to figure out tendencies whatnot. They listen and when they want to turn it on and play hard, they are a fun team to watch. I think it is a group with a very high ceiling, and I hope we are trending in the right direction.”

UP NEXT

Joplin takes part in the Bill Hanson Memorial Tournament in Pittsburg, Kansas, on Jan. 20.

Joplin held the lead at the end of each of the first three quarters only for Branson to rally and take the lead early in the fourth quarter on the way to a 60-54 win in Central Ozark Conference action on Friday to open the Super Night.

The Eagles (6-8, 0-2 COC) limited the Pirates (6-6, 1-1 COC) to four points in the second quarter and built a 21-12 lead in the process. Branson rallied to take the lead with two minutes left in the third before Joplin ultimately took a four-point cushion into the final eight minutes of play. The Pirates took the lead back early in the fourth quarter and held off the Eagles from a comeback in the closing minutes.

“I liked the effort in the first half,” Joplin coach Luke Floyd said. “I thought we played under control, we played smart and took care of the basketball for the most part. In the second half, Branson played like a team that wanted to come out and take the win and we played like a team hoping Branson would give us a win.”

GAME ACTION

Joplin started the contest as the aggressor after scoring the game’s first nine points. Emma Floyd and Ella Hafer grabbed offensive rebounds for putback scores to open the scoring before Brooke Nice followed with a 3-pointer from the wing off an inbounds pass. Hafer closed the run with a score on the break off a layup.

However, just as quickly as the Eagles took momentum, the Pirates answered right back. Branson scored the final eight points of the period, holding Joplin scoreless for the final four-plus minutes of action. Hadley Houston and Joanna Lansman each had 3-pointers to highlight the close to the quarter.

Joplin elevated its lead back to nine points by the intermission after limiting Branson to just four points on one field goal in the second period. 

“It is just playing with consistent effort,” Coach Floyd said about his team’s response to Branson’s close to the first quarter. “We forced them into tough shots and we rebounded the ball.”

Emma Floyd started the quarter with a three-point play after drawing contact on a fast-break layup before Nice drained a 3-ball in the corner off the assist from Hafer to make the score 15-8. Floyd added another offensive rebound for a putback score before knocking down a pair of shots at the foul line to push the Eagles’ lead to 19-10 with 3:08 left, carrying that cushion into halftime.

Once again, Joplin looked to be in control in the third quarter after building a nine-point, 28-19 lead off a Nice 3-ball from the wing with 4:37 on the clock, but the Pirates had other ideas after scoring 12 unanswered points to take their first lead of the game with two minutes left in the third. Houston started the run with a 3-pointer before scoring in transition. Taylor Foster added two baskets inside before Maci Rogers buried a 3-pointer to give Branson a 31-28 advantage. 

“In the second half especially, I thought they were able to get to the rim too easily,” Coach Floyd said. “If we can protect the paint like we did in the first half, we can be pretty good defensively. When we let the ball get in there, it’s tough to stop them that way.”

Joplin responded to the adversity by scoring the final seven points of the quarter as Nice had five points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 41 seconds left and a layup on the break off a Branson turnover, to take a 35-31 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We did a good job of taking care of the ball in that 7-0 run,” Coach Floyd said. “Honestly, I thought we had figured it out to start the fourth quarter. I thought we calmed ourselves down, we weathered the storm and we are good to go.”

Branson tied the game back up with 6:40 left in regulation on a bucket from Ellie Hoenie before Foster grabbed an offensive board for a putback to give the Pirates a 39-37 lead.

Joplin tied the game at 40-40 on an Emma Floyd elbow jumper with 4:12 to play, but the Pirates played in front the remainder of regulation on the way to the win.

The Eagles missed nine of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“They are free points,” Coach Floyd said. “There is no excuse for missing them. We spend plenty of time working on them. That is just being mentally tough, wanting the basketball in that situation, stepping to the line and putting it in the hole. Unfortunately, tonight, we were not able to do that.”

SCORING LEADERS

Houston led Branson with 16 points, including two 3-pointers. Foster finished in double figures with 11 points.

Nice knocked down three 3-pointers on the way to a team-high 15 points, while Hafer was right behind with 14 points in the win. Emma Floyd finished with 10 points to give the Eagles three players in double figures.

UP NEXT

Joplin is at Hillcrest on Jan. 20