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BOYS HOOPS: Scoring surge to close the first half propels Joplin to home-opening win over Central

By:
Lucas Davis

Springfield Central held a six-point lead three minutes into the second quarter before Joplin closed the first half on a surge to take a lead the Eagles wouldn’t relinquish in a 66-56 win in the home opener over Springfield Central on Friday.

With the win, Joplin remains unbeaten this season with a perfect 6-0 record. The Eagles are in action next when they take on Sunrise Christian (Kan.) at 5 p.m. in the 4 States Challenge hosted by Webb City on Saturday.

“I think we are getting better and better, and I think we have a high ceiling,” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said when asked to assess his team to this point in the season. “I think it is something that we need to keep pushing game by game. … A lot of these guys are still new or didn’t play much last year. So, I think it is something where there is still a lot of room to grow.”

Joplin sophomore G All Wright pulls up for a mid-range jumper in the Eagles’ win over Central. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

SCORING LEADERS

Joplin finished with three players in double figures, with sophomore guard All Wright scoring a game-high 22 points in the win. He had 12 in the second half. Sophomore G Quin Renfro finished with 15 points, while senior G Always Wright closed with 10 points.

“We are trying to develop a few of the younger guys and (Quin) stepped up big,” Schaake said of Renfro’s night. “What I like about it is he really isn’t trying to force it. He is just taking what they are giving, and he is finishing. That is what we are looking for.”

Junior F Terrance Gibson added eight points, while senior F LT Atherton finished the night with seven in the win for Joplin.

Junior G Sterling Vinson led Central with 10 points, while junior F Jamarius Lawrie and sophomore G Antonio Starks-Fewell finished with nine each. Freshman G Keion Epps and freshman F Bryce Walker each had eight in the loss.

GAME ACTION

Joplin sophomore Quin Renfro raises up for a floater in the Eagles’ win over Central on Friday in the home opener. Photo by Shawn Fowler.

The Bulldogs found a lot of success on the break in the opening eight minutes, getting out and running in transition to build a 14-9 lead off an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter. 

“They were just leaking out,” Schaake said. “I think we just took that away. Once that happened, we did a good job of slowing the game down and getting in the paint and kind of owning that.” 

Walker scored inside with less than five minutes to play in the second quarter to give Central a 25-19 lead.

Joplin flipped the script with a 15-2 run over the span of 3:25 to close the first half, giving the Eagles a 34-27 advantage at the break. Much of that success came in the paint, with All Wright coming away with six points in the run and Renfro four, including the go-ahead bucket (29-27) on a driving score at the 2:25 mark.

“We had better energy,” Schaake said of his team’s close to the first half. “Bruce (Wilbert) is fighting a head cold, and so is Brantley (Morris). Quin brought the energy and I thought (Whit) Hafer played extremely well. He is a big kid and is just starting to figure out his body. … When we can get in the middle, it gets guys open on the outside.

“We talked before the game about how we wanted to own the paint, whether that is attacking it or posting up. I thought that was kind of the key in the second quarter.”

Central trimmed the lead to one, 36-35, with 4:20 left in the third quarter before a quick 6-0 run from the Eagles behind a basket from Renfro and two buckets from All Wright pushed Joplin’s lead to seven, which the Eagles held head into the fourth quarter, 48-41.

Joplin distanced itself from Central for good to start the fourth quarter, scoring seven unanswered of the first three and a half minutes to build a 55-41 lead. Always Wright had two baskets and Atherton added another on the break.

The Eagles pushed the lead to a game-high 15 points, 62-47, with less than three minutes to play following back to back buckets inside from Atherton and Always Wright.

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