WEBB CITY, Mo. — It may have been Senior Night, but a sophomore made the biggest play of the game for the Webb City Cardinals.
Sophomore guard Holton Keith’s tip-in at the buzzer lifted Webb City to a thrilling 68-66 victory over Carl Junction in double overtime on Tuesday night inside a packed Cardinal Dome.
The final Central Ozark Conference clash of the season was deadlocked at 66 in the final seconds of the second extra session when Webb City senior guard Joe Adams hoisted up a 3-pointer from the left corner.
The shot was off the mark, but Keith soared down the lane, grabbed the offensive rebound, and while still in the air, banked in the game-winning bucket just before the final horn sounded.
“Coach (Jason) Horn was telling us in our last timeout that we have to go get rebounds and we have to hustle to the ball,” Keith said. “That’s what I tried to do. It was exciting and a lot of fun. It’s big to get the seniors a win tonight. We all just played hard tonight…we really wanted it. And it feels great to break our losing streak.”
The buzzer-beater finished off a significant comeback for the hosts, as the Cardinals trailed by 15 in the first half before rallying late in the game.
“You have to give Carl Junction a lot of credit,” Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. “They punched us in the mouth at the start of the game. They’ve got some young talent and the (Ayden) Bard kid can really score the ball. There’s a lot of emotion in this game and I thought our kids did a good job of not getting rattled early. They stayed composed and kept chipping away. Our kids battled their way back. Our kids have been in a lot of tough games and some good environments this year. I’m just proud of their composure.”
For the Bulldogs, a signature win slipped away despite the valiant effort.
“I’m super proud of our guys,” Carl Junction coach Justin Pock said. “We played hard and we knew this would be a hard-fought battle. That’s what CJ versus Webb City is all about. It was a great environment here tonight and our guys answered the call. Every one of them played for each other tonight and they did the things we wanted them to do. But unfortunately, there has to be a winner and there has to be a loser. The game could have gone either way.”
GAME RECAP
Hot-shooting Carl Junction stormed out of the gates and scored the game’s first 10 points, with freshman guard Cooper Vediz scoring eight.
The Bulldogs led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and extended their advantage to 15 at 24-9 before Webb City used a 15-2 surge to get back into the game, with Adams providing much of the scoring punch.
Propelled by 15 first-half points from Bard, the Bulldogs led 31-24 at halftime. The visitors were still up 46-42 entering the fourth quarter.
Adams came through in the clutch late in regulation by drilling a game-tying 3-pointer with two minutes to go.
Both teams traded turnovers before senior forward Alex Martin recorded a key blocked shot with 37 seconds left.
But the Cardinals’ alley-oop attempt failed with four seconds to play and Vediz’s heave from just inside halfcourt was off, sending the game to the first OT.
The teams scored four points apiece in the first overtime.
On the final play of the first OT, Webb City junior guard Barron Duda got the ball inside, but his shot from in close didn’t go down.
“We had good looks at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime,” Horn noted. “I thought we executed them pretty well. The pass was off a bit at the end of regulation. And then Barron got a good look, it just didn’t go in for him.”
In a key swing of momentum, the Cardinals scored the first five points of the second overtime to take a 66-61 lead. Martin scored inside, Keith made one free throw before Carl Junction turned the ball over and fouled, resulting in two made free throws from Adams with 1:30 to go.
The Bulldogs weren’t done.
Carl Junction junior guard Jett Hocut swished a 3-pointer from the corner with just over a minute to play, trimming his team’s deficit to two.
The Cardinals missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw with 53 seconds left. On the other end, Carl Junction’s Lucas Vanlanduit scored inside and drew a foul to tie it up with 44 seconds remaining.
However, the ensuing free throw was off the mark, keeping the game deadlocked.
The Cardinals ran the clock down before Keith’s game-winning putback set off a celebration on the court for the hosts.
“It was a set play that we run,” Horn said of the final possession. “Alex made a good pass, Joe floated to the corner and got a good look. Holton just plays with a lot of energy. He was going to fly in for the rebound and he wasn’t going to be denied.”
SENIOR NIGHT
Webb City snapped a five-game skid on the night the program’s seniors—Adams, Martin, Trey Roets and Karstan Gooch—were recognized.
Roets has missed the entire season due to a shoulder injury, but he suited up, started the game and got off a shot in the opening minute before exiting.
“Our seniors have shown a lot of growth from junior high to where they are now,” Horn said. “It would have been easy for these guys to call this season a wash after we lost Trey and Dante Washington. Trey has been at practice every day even though he’s hurt. They’re a good group. They’ve shown that we’re still a good team even though we’re missing a couple of good players.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Webb City is now 16-9 overall and the Cardinals went 3-6 in the always-tough COC.
Adams led Webb City with 23 points. He hit seven 3-pointers, including four in the second quarter that allowed the Cardinals to remain within striking distance.
“There was a stretch where Joe carried us,” Horn said. “We just couldn’t get anything to fall. We’ve been telling Joe he has to shoot it when he’s open, and tonight, he did that.”
Duda added 17 points and seven boards, while Keith scored 11 points and had five assists and Martin contributed 12 rebounds, nine points and seven assists.
“I thought Barron played amazing from the second quarter on,” Horn said. “He finished plays. I can’t say enough about him. Our two young guards, Eli Pace and Holton Keith, they got us back in the game with their defense. Alex made a big free throw. The guys who came in off the bench made energy plays. It was just a great team effort.”
The Cardinals made 23-of-58 field goal attempts (40 percent), including 11-of-28 from beyond the arc. The hosts went 11-for-16 at the charity stripe.
Carl Junction fell to 8-18, 1-8 in the COC.
The Bulldogs hit 26-of-55 shots from the floor (47 percent), including 8-of-23 on 3-pointers. Carl
Junction went 6-of-11 at the foul line.
Bard paced Carl Junction with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting.
Vediz added 14 points with three treys, while senior Xavier Perkins scored seven, sophomore Wyatt McAfee had six and senior Ky Warren scored five.
THEY’LL MEET AGAIN
Second-seeded Webb City will meet seventh-seeded Carl Junction at 7 p.m. on March 1 in the quarterfinals of the Class 5 District 7 tournament at Belton High School.
“To me, they’re not the seventh seed in that district,” Horn said of the Bulldogs. “I think they’re one of the top five teams in the district. We know Carl Junction will be a challenge for anyone in our district.”
Pock noted Tuesday’s solid showing should give his squad confidence going into the postseason rematch.
“We gained some confidence tonight,” Pock said. “Webb City’s a good team. We took them to two overtimes and they only beat us by two. That should give us a lot of confidence going into districts. We’re going to battle them again.”
Before the postseason begins, Webb City hosts Hillcrest on Thursday night in the regular-season finale.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
