Led by the Wright brothers, Joplin is heading back to the Kaminsky Classic championship game after rallying from a first-quarter deficit to defeat Francis Howell 69-60 in the semifinals on Friday night inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The Vikings (9-5) hammered the offensive boards in the first quarter to build an 18-10 advantage going into the second period. The Eagles (9-1) rallied behind a staunch defensive effort that sparked a 14-0 run to take a 26-25 lead into the intermission. After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Joplin used another long scoring run to take the lead. The Eagles extended the cushion to double digits in the fourth period on the way to the win.
CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND
The host Eagles are playing in the Kaminsky Classic championship game for the second straight season, and they will be facing the same opponent again—the Webb City Cardinals. A year ago, the Cardinals defeated the Eagles 65-55 in the title game last season. The matchup is set for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“You want to represent your home base,” Joplin coach Bronson Schaake said about the prospects of his Eagles playing for a Kaminsky Classic title. “You don’t want someone else holding up a trophy on your home floor. I told the guys to go do this. What I like about these (games) is it’s kind of a situation like (the postseason). This is a good indicator, but no one should hold a trophy on your floor. So, take pride in it and let’s go do it.”
STAT LEADERS
All Wright led all scorers with 35 points — the largest single-game scoring total for the Kaminsky Classic in the last five years. He shot 11-of-20 from the field, made four 3-pointers and was 9-of-14 shooting at the charity stripe. Always Wright finished with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He added four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Donovan Sparks led Francis Howell in scoring with 23 points to go along with six rebounds. Gabe James added 17 points, while Booker Simmons finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
“He is a competitive kid,” Schaake said of All Wright’s performance. “Sometimes, I have to bring him back a little bit, but I’d rather have kids like that than having to fire them up to be competitive. … (The Wright brothers) both have really great basketball IQs. They are very diverse and can do everything well.”
GAME ACTION
Francis Howell had a clear advantage in rebounding in the first quarter, particularly on the offensive end. The Vikings grabbed eight offensive boards in the first eight minutes, leading to a 10-0 advantage in second-chance scoring.
Francis Howell built a 10-point lead in the first period when Sparks grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback score, drawing a foul on the bucket for a three-point play to make the score 15-5 with 2:36 on the clock.
Joplin’s Terrance Gibson, who finished with nine rebounds, cut the lead to 18-10 with a steal going the other way for a dunk on the break in the closing seconds.
Francis Howell pushed the lead back to 10 with the first bucket in the second quarter, but the Eagles answered with a 14-0 run to take the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter. Joplin limited Francis Howell to 3-for-11 shooting (27 percent) in the second period, holding the Vikings off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes of action while Always and All Wright took over on the other end. Always started and ended the run with 3-pointers, while All filled it out with two 3-pointers sandwiched around a bucket on the drive.
“Maybe one of these times we will actually start a game playing good defense,” Schaake said with a smile. “When we start moving and rotating, we have some pretty athletic kids who are starting to figure it out. We were more energetic in the second quarter with more deflections and rebounding to try and get into our transition offense. If we can do that consistently, we are a pretty tough team.”
The Eagles took a 26-25 advantage into the fourth quarter but it didn’t last long, as the lead changed hands five times through the first half of the quarter. Joplin trailed 37-33 before using a 10-0 run to take the lead for good, 43-37, with 1:22 to play in the third.
All Wright, who scored the first 12 points of the third and 14 total in the period for the Eagles, kicked off the run with a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer from the top of the key before All Wright knocked down a mid-range jumper and added a three-point play to close out the run.
Joplin took a 45-41 lead into the final eight minutes of play and methodically pushed the lead to double digits when Always Wright buried a 3-ball with less than four minutes in regulation, playing with that margin through the final horn.
“I have noticed with these guys as they are getting through it that they are closing quarters out better, which is what you want to see,” Schaake said. “It’s showing that they are going in the right direction. They are going in the right direction, staying focused and trying to play a full 32-minute game.”
JEFFERSON CITY 60, NEVADA 25
Jefferson City built a double-digit lead by the intermission and limited Nevada to five points in the second half on the way to the win in the consolation semifinals on Friday.
The Jays (6-6) shot 51 percent from the field in the win, while the Tigers (1-10) were limited to 30 percent shooting in the loss.
Nevada had 22 turnovers in the loss, while Jefferson City finished with just nine and led in points off turnovers, 28-7. The Jays also held the advantage in points in the paint (32-12), second-chance points (18-5) and fast-break points (16-4).
Jefferson City had three players in double-figure scoring, led by Landon Vance’s 13 points and four rebounds. Steven Samuels finished with 12 points and four rebounds, while Kevion Pendelton scored 10 points and had three rebounds and two assists.
Cade Beshore led Nevada in scoring with eight points, while Leo Gayman had seven points and five rebounds. Owen Swearingen had six points and two blocks.
Nevada takes on Carl Junction in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
