Joplin JV took the game’s first two-possession lead since early in the first half with time dwindling in the fourth quarter and held on to defeat College Heights 49-46 in the 38th annual Mercy/Warrior Classic boys championship game on Saturday.
“Like I told them in there, we get everybody’s best shot,” Joplin JV coach James Spencer said. “Everybody wants to beat Joplin—the biggest school. We had to come mentally prepared and physically prepared to play our best game. Hats off to College Heights because they made it hard on us. Their zone and bigs hurt us inside. We had to make plays down the stretch.”
“It was a good, close game,” College Heights coach Eric Johnson said. “I thought our kids played well. We missed out on some plays at the end, and they made a few. It happens. It’s no excuse, but we were two starters short tonight, too. … It was a good tournament and a good three games for us.”
The Eagles took a 34-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter before College Heights’ Miller Long scored on a drive to tie the game. Ben Thomas followed by driving the baseline for an inside score, while converting the and-one free throw to give the Cougars a 37-34 lead.
Joplin JV regained the lead on a Brantley Morris mid-range jumper before Hobbs Campbell knocked down his own jumper from the baseline to put the Eagles on top 38-37 with 5:25 to play.
The lead changed hands three more times over the next several possessions, with College Heights’ Long scoring on a baseline drive with four minutes to play to give the Cougars a 41-40 lead.
Joplin JV answered with the only real momentum swing of the fourth quarter, as Zayshon Hugley checked in and promptly knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner. Following a CHC turnover, Campbell scored on the break to give the Eagles the game’s first two-possession lead, 45-41, since Joplin led 23-19 late in the first half.
“That was huge,” Spencer said. “It forced them to call a timeout, and that allowed us to collect ourselves. That is where we were able to make the adjustment on the defensive end to help with what they were trying to do with us. Having that cushion allowed our guys to take a deep breath there and say, ‘OK, we can get after this again.’”
The Cougars cut the lead to one, 45-44, on a 3-pointer from Thomas, but Morris converted on a drive and Wyatt Saterlee added a free throw to once again put Joplin up by four, 48-44, with 29.2 seconds left in regulation.
“We made an adjustment to how we were playing defensively,” Spencer said of his team’s play down the stretch. “That was huge. And we came up with big rebounds at the end. … That really was the difference at the end.”
Long found room on the drive for a basket with 12 seconds left cut the deficit to 48-46.
Saterlee was fouled and sent to the line with 8.5 seconds left, making the first and missing the second to give the Cougars a shot at the tie with less than three ticks on the clock.
Long got off a deep 3-pointer before the buzzer, but it was no good, preserving the win for the Eagles.
“It is a huge confidence builder for them,” Spencer said when asked what this type of win means for his players when they eventually see those moments at the varsity level. “They have to know how to compete in those big games and those big moments.”
HOW THEY GOT THERE
The first half saw three ties and four lead changes. Joplin JV held an 11-6 lead midway through the first before College Heights closed the period with a 6-0, as Ethan Meeks, who had four of the points, scored inside at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 12-11 lead.
The pace remained the same in the second quarter, as both teams traded buckets before the Eagles ultimately took a 26-23 advantage into the intermission following a late 3-pointer from Brantley Morris.
As much of a seesaw battle as the first half was, it didn’t compare to the second half. The third quarter had one tie and four lead changes, while the final eight minutes had one tie and another six lead changes.
Neither team established the momentum in the third, as Joplin JV took a 34-32 lead into the fourth quarter after Morris knifed his way through the lane for a basket, drawing contact for a three-point play with 14.4 seconds on the clock.
SCORING LEADERS
Campbell led Joplin JV with 16 points, while Morris finished with 13. Hugley added 12.
Long led College Heights with a game-high 17 points, while Thomas and Meeks each finished with 10. Curtis Davenport finished with eight.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Brantley Morris, Joplin JV
Hobbs Campbell, Joplin JV
Miller Long, College Heights
Caden Myers, Thomas Jefferson
Daniel Wagner, McAuley
