GOLDEN CITY, Mo. — The top-seeded Thomas Jefferson Cavaliers scored the game’s first seven points, never trailed, scored the last seven points of the third to enter the fourth ahead 46-36, and scored eight unanswered in the fourth on their way to a 65-54 win over fourth-seeded Sheldon on Wednesday night in the Class 1 District 7 semifinals at Golden City High School.
Thomas Jefferson seniors Tyler Brouhard and Jay Ball both gave sensational performances: Brouhard scored a game-high 28 points and had seven rebounds, five steals and six assists, while Ball recorded a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocks and he also led Thomas Jefferson with seven steals.
The Cavaliers had an answer either offensively or defensively or both for every time Sheldon knocked at the door.
“It’s that time of year,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said. “You know teams are not going to go away. They’ve got the same thing at stake as you do, it’s a lose and go home situation, so we knew they were going to come at us again. Credit to the boys for weathering the storm. They cut it down to three, but we kept our composure and stretched it back out and got it done down the stretch.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games, and we’ve been fortunate to be on the right side of most of them, but the ones that we weren’t helped us prepare for those situations. You just hope the guys keep it together and put it together and find a way to get it done at this time of year.”
Near the end of the third, with Sheldon down 37-34 and then 39-36 for their smallest deficit since they were behind three on two occasions in the first quarter, Levi Triplett opened the 7-0 run with a basket then Brouhard delivered his third of four 3-pointers in the game and closed out the quarter with a difficult fall-away jumper at the buzzer.
Sheldon trailed 57-51 with 3 minutes and 10 seconds remaining in regulation after a pair of Aiden Ellifrits free throws, and that’s when Thomas Jefferson scored eight consecutive points all on free throws while Sheldon went scoreless for nearly a three-minute stretch until Ellifrits closed out the scoring with an old-fashioned three-point play in the final seconds.
Triplett finished with nine points, four steals, and four assists, while Kip Atteberry and Kohl Thurman each contributed three points for the Cavaliers.
William Chapman led Sheldon with 20 points, 17 of them in the second half, and Riley Chapman and Ellifrits both finished with 14 points and Shon Bogart and Aiden Bogart produced four and two points, respectively.
The Panthers finished their season 17-9 with two of their nine losses this season against Thomas Jefferson (67-44 their first one on Jan. 13).
Thomas Jefferson improved to 19-6 on the season and the Cavaliers play for a third straight district title with the championship game Friday against No. 2 seed and district host Golden City, who defeated Lockwood 54-42 in the other semifinal game on Wednesday and improved to 18-10 on the season.
“We’re very familiar with both of these teams, of course,” Myers said. “I don’t think there will be many surprises, just like they’re familiar with us. We’re anticipating a good one no matter who it is and we’re just looking forward to it.”
Thomas Jefferson and Golden City — the two most successful Class 1 programs in the area in recent seasons — tip at 6:30 p.m. on Friday for all the marbles.
Last season, Thomas Jefferson beat Golden City 49-38 for the district title and the Cavaliers also defeated Lockwood 60-44 in the semifinals, ending both teams’ seasons with 18-9 overall records.
Golden City won three straight district titles from 2019 through 2021, a streak ended by Thomas Jefferson, and the Eagles placed third in Class 1 in 2020.
