WEBB CITY, Mo. — Missed opportunities doomed Webb City’s upset bid.
In an intense clash between state-ranked foes, Nixa rode a strong finish to a 50-40 victory over Webb City on Friday night in a Central Ozark Conference boys basketball clash inside the Cardinal Dome.
The game was tied at the end of the third period before Class 6 No. 4 Nixa outscored Class 5 No. 8 Webb City 23-13 in the fourth quarter.
Foul trouble, missed free throws, empty possessions and a lack of defensive rebounding plagued the Cardinals late in the game.
“I think Nixa’s offensive rebounding was the biggest issue,” Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. “That caused us to get in foul trouble and they got some putbacks. We have to do a better job of rebounding the ball. If we could have held them to a one and done scenario, then we would have had a chance to get the lead or even get a little distance between us. But I can’t fault my guys. They’re going to give effort.”
The Cardinals had two starters foul out, Cohl Vaden and Trey Roets.
Also, Webb City made just 2-of-8 free-throw attempts in the game, including four straight misses in the final frame.
“It’s been up and down all year,” Horn said of free-throw shooting. “You’ve got to make your free throws. It could have kept it a one-possession game. But it’s hard to replicate this type of environment in practice…with a full gym and a lot on the line. All of those things are correctable. We’ve just got to get a little tougher on the boards.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Webb City fell to 15-7 and 3-2 in the COC with the loss.
Senior forward Kaden Turner led Webb City with 11 points, while junior guard Dante Washington had 10 points and three assists. Barron Duda added six points on two treys off the bench. Roets had a team-high seven rebounds.
The Cardinals made 17-of-42 field-goal attempts (41 percent).
Nixa hiked its record to 20-3 and 6-0 in the COC. The Eagles have now won 21 straight COC games.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys,” Nixa coach Jay Osborne said. “We had three starters who didn’t play in the first half…team policy…next man up. They played hard and made good decisions. Any time you get a road win in this conference you’ve got to be happy about it.”
Jaret Nelson scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Eagles, while Keith Piepmeier added 10 points. Nixa shot 36 percent for the game (17-of-47) and out-rebounded the hosts 38-21.
As Osborne noted, the Eagles played without two starters the entire night, Jordyn Turner and Kael Combs. A third starter, Colin Ruffin, did not play in the first half before scoring 10 points after the break.
GAME RECAP
With a large homecoming crowd looking on, Webb City took a 10-4 lead, but Nixa used a 16-4 run to take a 20-14 advantage.
Webb City’s Vaden and Nixa’s Piepmeier traded 3-pointers late in the first half, and the Eagles held a 23-17 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals outscored the Eagles 10-4 in the low-scoring third period. Washington had six points in the frame, while Turner dunked off an alley oop and Isaiah Brisco contributed a hoop.
With that, the score was deadlocked at 27 at the end of the third quarter.
Webb City’s last lead came at 30-29 when Duda buried a trey from the right wing.
But the Eagles used a 10-0 run to take control.
Vaden, the team’s floor general, fouled out with 5:42 to play.
“We’re not going to win a lot of games if he’s not out there,” Horn commented.
Roets also fouled out late in the game, and the hosts simply had too many empty possessions down the stretch.
“I thought we did a good job in our zone late in the game and I thought we rebounded really well in the second half,” Osborne said. “Horn does a good job with them. They run a ton of sets, which is why we zoned so much. The zone takes them out of their sets. It’s a good win over a good team.”
Horn noted he was proud his team was able to compete with a team the caliber of Nixa.
“They’re the best team in Southwest Missouri and they’re the best team we’ve played,” Horn noted. “This will certainly prepare us for our district. I thought our kids did a good job of sticking to the plan we put in place. We held them to 50 points. They scored 80 the last couple games. We just have to be better offensively.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Webb City is at Neosho on Tuesday.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
