The visiting Pierce City Eagles entered the TJ Fieldhouse and earned a pair of varsity wins on Friday night against the Thomas Jefferson Cavaliers.
In the nightcap, Pierce City held on for a 41-39 win over a Thomas Jefferson team ranked seventh in Class 1 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association.
Pierce City’s Quortin Parks broke a 39-all score with a contested jumper, Pierce City senior Zane Clayton stepped in and took a pair of charges from Thomas Jefferson senior Tyler Brouhard, and the Eagles denied Brouhard, who hit a three for that 39-all score, any opportunity to hit a game-winning shot in the final seconds.
After building a 14-12 lead headed into the second quarter, Thomas Jefferson showed frequent signs of rust with four points in the second and eight in the fourth reflective of that.
There’s a good reason for that — Thomas Jefferson had last played Dec. 12 against Lockwood, giving the Cavaliers 25 days between games.
“It’s the storyline every year at this time of the year for us,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said. “We looked like a team that hadn’t played a game since Dec. 12. We can’t use that as an excuse. Game’s been on the schedule, and we knew it was coming. We just didn’t play very well, from top to bottom. Too many turnovers, too many empty possessions on offense. We worked hard and got stops on defense, but we didn’t allow ourselves to be patient enough on the offensive end to get good looks and that’s the story of the game.”
Pierce City took advantage of Thomas Jefferson senior center Jay Ball’s absence in the second quarter, scoring the first nine points of the quarter to jump ahead 21-14.
The Eagles went into halftime with a 27-18 lead after their 15-4 second quarter.
“Jay’s in foul trouble,” Myers said. “Any time our big man’s in foul trouble, we’re a different basketball team. We had to play four minutes of that second quarter with him on the bench, trying to survive, and some of those younger kids stepped up and kept us in the game a little bit. At the end of the day, we had the ball with a chance to tie it or take the lead. We just didn’t get it done.”
Ball led all scorers with 16 points, Brouhard finished with 11 points, Levi Triplett scored all four of his points in the first quarter, Tony Touma and Ethan Renger each knocked down a trifecta during Thomas Jefferson’s second-half charge on the Eagles’ lead, and freshman Kohl Thurman made a pair of free throws as Thomas Jefferson entered the bonus late in the third.
“We’ve got to continue to grow,” Myers said. “We’ve got some young kids and some inexperienced kids that are getting a lot of varsity minutes right now. They’re moving forward and we’re happy about that. We’re going to keep on continuing to put it all together and be on the right side of some more of these.”
Thomas Jefferson dropped to 7-2 overall and the Cavaliers return to action Monday on the road against Sarcoxie.
Emmitt Price led Pierce City (7-6) with 13 points Friday, Parks scored eight of his 10 points after halftime, Luke Perry scored all eight of his points in the first half, Clayten O’Hara added seven, Clayton two, and Austin Beaty one.
PIERCE CITY GIRLS 57, THOMAS JEFFERSON 28
Pierce City ended the first quarter Friday with a 15-2 scoring run and a 17-7 lead on the host Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson started out strong with a Gabbi Hiebert field goal and a trifecta staking the Cavaliers to a 5-2 lead.
Pierce City led 32-15 at halftime and 53-22 after three quarters.
Pierce City’s Olivia Stanphill led all scorers with 19 points, Ayla Renkoski scored 11 of her 13 points in the third quarter, the trio of Madi Tindell, Rylie O’Hara and Macie Crowther each netted six points, Keishia Delgado scored Pierce City’s first two points and finished with three, and freshmen Faron Linn and Emma Hunt each scored two points for the 8-6 Eagles.
Sophomore center Lannah Grigg led Thomas Jefferson with 11 points, Hiebert finished with nine, and Tannah Grigg and Sarah Mueller each scored their four points in the second half.
Thomas Jefferson fell to 5-3 overall and the Cavaliers are back on the court Tuesday at home against Southwest.
