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WILLARD, Mo. — No. 2 seed Carl Junction scored 18 points in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter Thursday night at Willard High School in the Class 5 District 6 semifinals against No. 6 Willard.
That scoring run erased a 6-point hole entering the final eight minutes of action and allowed the Carl Junction boys to earn a 64-60 victory and advance to the district championship.
"I thought we kind of got back to being ourselves. I thought the first two quarters especially, offensively, we were very timid and not being ourselves playing to our strengths," Carl Junction head coach Cort Hardy said. "Credit to those guys, they were slowing us down."
Carl Junction (16-12) advances to meet No. 1 seed Hillcrest (18-9) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Willard High School.
"Our boys want redemption. It's been a long time since Carl Junction played for a district championship, let alone won one. Our kids will be up for the moment," Hardy said.
The fourth quarter began with Carl Junction trailing 37-31. It had trailed by as many as 12 points in the third frame after a neck-and-neck first half that saw Willard lead 21-19 heading into the locker room. The end of the first frame saw the two teams tied at 6.
Hardy believes his players were settling for some jump shots that weren't typical for them. He wanted to see his team work downhill more.
Rashad McDonald drained his first 3-point basket of the game to start the fourth and had a big celebration to go along with it as he looked over at the Willard student section.
"He's a confident player, a guy that feeds off emotion. He was a spark for us. He was huge for us in the fourth quarter. He got himself going, and it got our team going," Hardy said.
The Tigers' Uzziah Huskisson responded with a triple of his own. But back on the other end, it was time for another McDonald 3-pointer, and the score was 40-37 in favor of Willard.
Huskisson added a point, going 1 for 2 at the free-throw line. Then it was time for another Bulldog to get a first taste of an outside shot going through the basket. Kolby Martin lined one up from the left wing and drained it to make it 41-40.
Carl Junction's defense forced its first turnover of the quarter, and quickly the other way, Martin was banking a tough runner off the glass to give the Bulldogs their first lead since the score was 11-8.
But Willard's Nahmy Kelley got a layup of his own to put his team on top 43-42.
After a couple of missed free throws by Carl Junction's Brody Pant, Willard got its lead to 3 points on a layup by Colbee Mowell. But Pant made up for it by tying the game with a trey from the corner.
And Pant got going in a hurry. He went on to score 13 points in the quarter and tallied a game-high 23.
"He just finds a way. He's a player that goes 100 miles an hour and gives his all no matter what. Credit to him, he hit some tough shots. Big game, big moment, that's just what he does," Hardy said.
After his game-tying shot, Carl Junction scored the next 4 points, taking a 49-45 lead at the 5:14 mark of the fourth, which forced Willard head coach J.J. Adamson to take a timeout. That gave the Bulldogs 18 points in less than three minutes of action. They were winning the quarter 18-8.
"When we play fast and we play in transition, that's when we're at our best," Pant said.
Out of the timeout, Pant got another layup to make it 51-45.
But the Tigers trimmed the difference back down to 1 point. Carl Junction had an answer as Deacon Endicott collected an offensive rebound and putback. That started a quick 6-0 burst as a steal and layup from Pant added on and then a stop and a score from McDonald made it 59-52.
"We challenged our guys to get up and guard the ball a lot harder. They did a good job of playing and pressuring the ball without fouling," Hardy said.
He really felt like his defense led to a lot of that fourth-quarter offense that saw the Bulldogs score a total of 33 points in the stanza.
With 50 seconds left, Huskisson got a putback of his own to make it 59-54. Later, the sophomore hit a 3-point basket to make it 61-57.
Maddox Shorter was fouled twice down the stretch and made 3 of 4 charities and helped his team cling to a narrow victory. He collected the final missed shot from Willard and fired the ball up into the air.
Pant spoke about the excitement of playing for a district title as a senior.
"Man, I'm excited as a senior getting to go. We came up short last year. I can't wait. It's awesome, it really is," Pant said. "I think we've learned and got better since then."
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That scoring run erased a 6-point hole entering the final eight minutes of action and allowed the Carl Junction boys to earn a 64-60 victory and advance to the district championship.
"I thought we kind of got back to being ourselves. I thought the first two quarters especially, offensively, we were very timid and not being ourselves playing to our strengths," Carl Junction head coach Cort Hardy said. "Credit to those guys, they were slowing us down."
Carl Junction (16-12) advances to meet No. 1 seed Hillcrest (18-9) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Willard High School.
"Our boys want redemption. It's been a long time since Carl Junction played for a district championship, let alone won one. Our kids will be up for the moment," Hardy said.
The fourth quarter began with Carl Junction trailing 37-31. It had trailed by as many as 12 points in the third frame after a neck-and-neck first half that saw Willard lead 21-19 heading into the locker room. The end of the first frame saw the two teams tied at 6.
Hardy believes his players were settling for some jump shots that weren't typical for them. He wanted to see his team work downhill more.
Rashad McDonald drained his first 3-point basket of the game to start the fourth and had a big celebration to go along with it as he looked over at the Willard student section.
"He's a confident player, a guy that feeds off emotion. He was a spark for us. He was huge for us in the fourth quarter. He got himself going, and it got our team going," Hardy said.
The Tigers' Uzziah Huskisson responded with a triple of his own. But back on the other end, it was time for another McDonald 3-pointer, and the score was 40-37 in favor of Willard.
Huskisson added a point, going 1 for 2 at the free-throw line. Then it was time for another Bulldog to get a first taste of an outside shot going through the basket. Kolby Martin lined one up from the left wing and drained it to make it 41-40.
Carl Junction's defense forced its first turnover of the quarter, and quickly the other way, Martin was banking a tough runner off the glass to give the Bulldogs their first lead since the score was 11-8.
But Willard's Nahmy Kelley got a layup of his own to put his team on top 43-42.
After a couple of missed free throws by Carl Junction's Brody Pant, Willard got its lead to 3 points on a layup by Colbee Mowell. But Pant made up for it by tying the game with a trey from the corner.
And Pant got going in a hurry. He went on to score 13 points in the quarter and tallied a game-high 23.
"He just finds a way. He's a player that goes 100 miles an hour and gives his all no matter what. Credit to him, he hit some tough shots. Big game, big moment, that's just what he does," Hardy said.
After his game-tying shot, Carl Junction scored the next 4 points, taking a 49-45 lead at the 5:14 mark of the fourth, which forced Willard head coach J.J. Adamson to take a timeout. That gave the Bulldogs 18 points in less than three minutes of action. They were winning the quarter 18-8.
"When we play fast and we play in transition, that's when we're at our best," Pant said.
Out of the timeout, Pant got another layup to make it 51-45.
But the Tigers trimmed the difference back down to 1 point. Carl Junction had an answer as Deacon Endicott collected an offensive rebound and putback. That started a quick 6-0 burst as a steal and layup from Pant added on and then a stop and a score from McDonald made it 59-52.
"We challenged our guys to get up and guard the ball a lot harder. They did a good job of playing and pressuring the ball without fouling," Hardy said.
He really felt like his defense led to a lot of that fourth-quarter offense that saw the Bulldogs score a total of 33 points in the stanza.
With 50 seconds left, Huskisson got a putback of his own to make it 59-54. Later, the sophomore hit a 3-point basket to make it 61-57.
Maddox Shorter was fouled twice down the stretch and made 3 of 4 charities and helped his team cling to a narrow victory. He collected the final missed shot from Willard and fired the ball up into the air.
Pant spoke about the excitement of playing for a district title as a senior.
"Man, I'm excited as a senior getting to go. We came up short last year. I can't wait. It's awesome, it really is," Pant said. "I think we've learned and got better since then."
Continue reading...
