Joplin ended the regular season on a high note, sending its senior class out with a win after holding off No. 9 Neosho late for a 67-63 win in Central Ozark Conference action on Tuesday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The first half saw a bevy of ties and lead changes before the Eagles used a late surge to take the advantage and the momentum into the intermission. Joplin played in front for the entire second half until the Wildcats tied the game up with a minute left in regulation orchestrated by K’dyn Waters. A tip-in basket from Joplin’s Terrance Gibson with 20 seconds left ultimately sent the Eagles home with the win.
“It was Senior Night so there was probably a lot of emotions for the kids,” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said. “That can go either one of two ways. I thought the way we ended the first half was kind of what we needed. In the second half, I was waiting for the last run to put the nail in the coffin but we let them stay in it. But, that is the way you want to end it, especially for your seniors.”
SENIOR NIGHT
Joplin honored five members of the team with Senior Night ceremonies before the game—Always Wright, Joe Jasper, Brantley Morris, LT Atherton and Calvin Clark.
“I told them the national average to make it to your senior year is four kids,” Schaake said. “For them to make it all the way through, and some of them weren’t suiting up on varsity last year. To keep pushing through, that showed me a lot about their character. I’ve never had any issue with them. They come in and do their job. That is big.”
DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Joplin closes its first regular season under Coach Schaake with an 18-7, 6-3 COC record. The Eagles are the fourth seed as the hosts of the Class 6 District 5 tournament. Joplin opens play against fifth-seeded Republic with a 4:30 p.m. matchup on Monday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
“I told them to enjoy this win until midnight and then we have to kind of reboot it,” Schaake said. “We have a week off and then we start our second season. This is when it matters. I think over the next couple of days, we will get our legs back and start amping up for Republic. They are a tough opponent.”
Neosho closes the season with a 16-10, 3-6 COC record and is the fourth seed in the Class 5 District 6 tournament. The Wildcats take on the fifth-seeded Willard, the host school, at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“Just reflecting on the regular season, it was the most wins since 2005,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said of his team’s season ahead of district play. “We won the Holiday Classic championship and competed in every COC game except two. It has been a lot of fun this season. We know we had a really good junior class coming into the season and K’dyn Waters just pushed us over the edge. … I can’t ask for a much better regular season competitive-wise.”
GAME ACTION
To say the first half was a seesaw affair would be an understatement. There were five total ties and eight lead changes through the first two quarters of play, with Joplin coming away with the last momentum swing during the closing minutes of the second period.
Neosho built a 29-23 lead after a 3-pointer from Kael Smith with less than three minutes to play in the first half. All Wright knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing to cut the lead to three with two minutes to play before Morris grabbed a defensive board and went coast to coast for a layup to cut the deficit to 29-28.
Two free throws from Waters pushed the lead back to three for the Wildcats, but a 3-ball at the top of the key by All Wright with 1:02 to play tied the game at 31-31. Atherton earned a steal at the other end that turned into a Gibson dunk the other way with 15 seconds left that gave Joplin a 33-31 lead. All Wright came away with another steal, the Eagles’ third forced turnover inside the final minute of the half, and finished off the play with a dunk on the break just before the horn to send JHS into the intermission up 35-31.
“We just got out of what we did a little bit,” Culp said. “We had our only bad turnovers of the whole half right there and gave up some transition points and offensive rebounds. If you give Joplin extra chances, they’re going to get you.”
The Eagles played with the four-point cushion for much of the third quarter until Carter Fenske grabbed an offensive board for a putback and Waters followed with a score on the break off a Joplin turnover to send Neosho in the fourth trailing 48-47.
Joplin looked as if it had taken control of the game with a 7-0 run near the midway mark of the fourth quarter to build a 63-35 lead. All Wright had a 3-pointer from the wing and converted a floater in the key to bookend the small spurt. Quin Renfro added a driving score.
Neosho refused to go away, answering back with the next eight unanswered points to tie the game up at 63-all with 62 seconds left in regulation. Waters accounted for all eight points, scoring three times on the drive as well as making a pair at the foul line.
“I was really proud of our guys’ effort after playing last night on the road at Ozark to come out here and compete tooth and nail,” Culp said of his team’s fight to the game late. “It could have got away from us, but we came back and fought to tie by getting some big stops on the defensive end without having to pressure them.
The Eagles regained the lead for good when Always Wright was no good on a layup while attacking the basket but Gibson was there for the clean up, tipping in the miss with 20 seconds left to give Joplin a 65-63 lead.
After a turnover by Neosho and subsequent foul, Always Wright iced the Senior Night win after sinking two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining.
“That’s kind of the way you would like to end it if you are a senior,” Schaake said.
SCORING LEADERS
All Wright led Joplin with a team-high 22 points, while Gibson finished with 17 in the win. Always Wright was in double figures with 12 points, while Whit Hafer closed with eight.
Waters led Neosho with a game-high 27 points, including 10-of-11 shooting at the free-throw line. Isaiah Green closed with 13 points, while Smith added 11.
