February 17, 2010

 

• 

 

---

January 2, 2010

Pirates, Tigers Blue & Gold cham­pi­ons again
COCPrepSports.com
  Bran­son three-peated and Ozark repeated as cham­pi­ons at the 64^th Annual Blue & Gold Tour­na­ment on Wednes­day.
  The No. 2 seeded Pirates downed top-seeded Nixa 66–51 in the Blue Divi­sion title tilt. Avery Ding­man scored a game-high 24 points, Sam Pugh posted 16 points and eight assists and Dana Thomas had 11 points. Nixa was led by Kameron Bundy’s 10 points.
  The No. 1 seeded Tigers beat No. 2 seed Spring­field Hill­crest 65–58 in the Gold Divi­sion cham­pi­onship game. Seth Arnold fired in 17 points, Thomas Ligion added 16 and Isa­iah Mon­roe con­tributed 15.
  The COC has had at least one cham­pion at the Blue & Gold Tour­na­ment the past 15 years.

• 

 

---

January 3, 2010

Carthage 2–1 at tour­ney
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   NEOSHO — Desmond Buerge col­lected 17 points and nine rebounds to help Carthage past Mor­ril­ton, Ark., 57–50, at the Neosho Hol­i­day Tour­na­ment.
  The Tigers broke a 34-all tie by scor­ing 23 points in the fourth quar­ter.
  Lane Stephens added 12 points for the win­ners and Cody Caster had 11. Caster had four steals.
  Carthage beta McDon­ald County 52–36. Keith Lawrie net­ted 16 points and Stephens had 15.
  The Tigers lost to Van Buren (Ark.) 57–41. Caster col­lected 10 points and seven boards. Carthage outscored Van Buren 23–22 in the sec­ond half, but was down by 17 at halftime.

• 

 

---

January 13, 2010

Ding­man, Pirates beat Ozark (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  BRAN­SON — Avery Ding­man over­came foul trou­bles to score a game-high 29 points in Branson’s 73–60 Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion win over Ozark on Tues­day.
  Ding­man, who had four fouls, hit four 3-pointers, includ­ing a pair of first-quarter treys that helped the Pirates (13−1 over­all and 1–1 in the COC) break out to a 23–8 lead. Tee Helsel added 17 points while also hit­ting four 3s and Dana Thomas col­lected 15 points and nine rebounds.
  Ozark received a com­bined 45 points from its back­court of Seth Arnold and Isa­iah Mon­roe. Arnold had 15 of his 26 points in the sec­ond half. Mon­roe had 19 points.
  The Tigers were minus cen­ter Tom Ligion, who sat out the con­test due to a staph infec­tion.
  In other games on Tues­day:
   — Neosho edged COC Large Schools Divi­sion foe Repub­lic 58–56 in over­time.
  Corey Cran­dall topped the Wild­cats with 20 points, while Michael Lowe had 15 and Jake Mid­dle­ton 10.
  — Reeds Spring ral­lied for a 52–47 tri­umph over Spring­field Catholic in a matchup of COC Small Schools Divi­sion mem­bers.
  The Wolves (6−4 and 1–0) erupted for 25 points in the third quar­ter, after trail­ing 22–10 at half­time. Ben Selby had a team-high 15 points.
  The loss halted Catholic’s five-game win­ning streak. The Irish (7−4 and 0–1) received 14 points apiece from Jack Wolf and Chad McBride.
  — At Nixa, Nixa downed Carthage 57–40 in a COC Large Schools Divi­sion matchup.
  The Eagles received 13 points from Seth Mat­lock and 10 from Zac Hill while improv­ing to 14–1 over­all and 2–0 in con­fer­ence play. They outscored the Tigers 20–2 from the free-throw line.
  Nixa led 15–3 after the first quar­ter. Carthage actu­ally outscored the hosts 24–22 over the sec­ond and third quar­ters.
  Carthage received a dozen points from Keith Lawrie, 11 from Cody Caster and 10 from Lane Stephens. 
  Nixa hosts Kansas City Prep Hogan at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

• 

 

---

January 16, 2010

Repub­lic downs Blue Jays (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  REPUB­LIC — Nick Yocum led four Repub­lic play­ers in dou­ble fig­ures on Fri­day as the Tigers beat Marsh­field 69–59.
  Repub­lic also received 14 points from Josh Mor­row, 11 from Dylan Fletcher and nine from Kevin Stander.
  Else­where on Fri­day:
  —  Bran­son moved to 14–1 by edg­ing Boli­var 65–59.
  Avery Ding­man col­lected 22 points, four steals and three blocks to lead the Pirates. Dana Thomas con­tributed 11 points and eight boards, Chris Odgen had 12 points and Sam Pugh 11.
  On Thurs­day:
  — Rogersville upped its record in the Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Small Schools Divi­sion to 3–0 by down­ing Marsh­field 67–55.

• 

 

---

January 18, 2010

Eagles beat top-ranked Hogan Prep
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  NIXA — Zac Hill’s 17 points helped power Nixa past Hogan Prep, ranked No. 1 in Class 3, by a 75–65 count on Sat­ur­day.
  Austin Rud­der net­ted four treys in his 15-point effort, Jor­dan Keeney scored 12 points and Seth Mat­lock and Ben Fisher had 10 apiece.
  The 15–1 Eagles vis­its Spring­field Kick­apoo on Tuesday. 

• 

 

---

January 20, 2010

17–0 run lifts Nixa to 17–1 (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   SPRING­FIELD — A rocky start on Tues­day couldn’t keep Nixa from its 17^th win of the sea­son, a 72–60 tri­umph over Spring­field Kick­apoo.
  The Eagles trailed 10–2, but responded to a time­out by reel­ing off 17 unan­swered points.
  Nixa improved to 17–1. 
  Else­where on Tues­day:
  — At Repub­lic, Kevin Stander’s 21 points helped Repub­lic beat Way­nesville 72–57 on Tues­day.
  Jonathon Combs added 16 points, Nick Yocum had 15, Dylan Fletcher con­tributed nine and Josh Mor­row eight for the Tigers.
  Repub­lic led through­out, post­ing 21 points in the first quar­ter en route to gain­ing a 37–22 half­time advan­tage.
  — Neosho lost to Joplin 63–46.
  Corey Crandall’s 14 points paced the Wild­cats.
  —  Reeds Spring ral­lied from an eight-point half­time deficit to knock off Ava 68–61.
  The Wolves (7−5) erupted for 25 points in the third quar­ter. 
  Ben Selby topped the win­ners with 24 points, while Alex Engish had 18 and Chris Jones posted 16 points and seven blocks.

• 

 

---

January 21, 2010

Wolves win sec­ond straight (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  BUF­FALO — Reeds Spring won for the sec­ond time in as many nights on Wednes­day, pick­ing up a 57–47 Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Small Schools Divi­sion win at Buf­falo.
  The game was orig­i­nally sched­uled for two weeks ago, but was post­poned due to icy roads.
  The Wolves (8−5 over­all and 2–0 in the COC Small Schools Divi­sion) were led by Alex English’s game-high 16 points. Ben Selby and Chris Jones both added 11. 

• 

 

---

January 22, 2010

Lady Car­di­nals No. 1 in Class 5
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  Webb City’s girls bas­ket­ball team is atop this week’s Class 4 poll in this Mis­souri Sports­writ­ers and Sports­cast­ers Association’s state rank­ings.
  The Lady Car­di­nals are 15–1. 
  In Class 5, Nixa is 13–2 and ranked No. 2. 
  The Lady Car­di­nals and Lady Eagles will meet Feb. 12 at Nixa.
  The Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion is rep­re­sented in the boys poll by Bran­son and Nixa. The Pirates are 15–1 and ranked No. 5 in Class 5 and the Eagles are 16–1 record and ranked No. 8 in Class 5.

• 

 

---

January 23, 2010

Neosho knocks off Mt. Ver­non (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com
  NEOSHO — Neosho downed non-conference foe Mt. Ver­non 53–45 on Fri­day.
  The Wild­cats were led by Corey Crandall’s 16 points, Michael Lowe’s 15 and Alex Wise’s 10.
  Else­where on Fri­day:
  — Spring­field Catholic fell to host Spokane 59–41 in a semi­fi­nal at the Spokane Tour­na­ment.
  Jack Wolf had 10 points for the Irish.
  — Repub­lic edged Reeds Spring 56–53.
  Josh Morrow’s 21 points and Kevin Stander’s 20 paced the Tigers. The Wolves received 15 points from Kyle Fleck and 10 apiece from Mar­cus John­son and Chris Jones.
  — Bran­son downed Webb City 70–55 in second-round action at the Webb City Clas­sic.
  — Nixa downed Rogersville 64–39 behind Ben Fisher’s 19 points.
  — Carthage’s Keith Lawrie net­ted 25 points to lead the Tigers past Aurora 64–55.
  Lawrie was 10-of-17 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free-throw line. Lane Stephens added 14 points and Ethan Wig­gins nine for the winners. 

• 

 

---

January 24, 2010

Wolf, Irish take third at Spokane Tour­na­ment (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  SPOKANE — Sopho­more Jack Wolf col­lected 21 points and nine rebounds to lead Spring­field Catholic past Cassville 49–44 in the third-place game at the Spokane Tour­na­ment on Sat­ur­day.
  The Irish (10−5) hit 13-of-16 free-throw attempts in the fourth quar­ter.
  Else­where on Sat­ur­day:
  — At the Webb City Clas­sic, Bran­son beat Lin­coln Prep 74–57.
  The Pirates, ranked No. 5 in Class 5, improved to 17–2. 

• 

 

---

January 25, 2010

Irish fall to Straf­ford (Boys bas­ket­ball)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   CON­WAY — Spring­field Catholic suf­fered a 63–47 loss to Straf­ford in first-round action at the Con­way Tour­na­ment on Mon­day.
  The Irish (10−6) were led by Jack Wolf’s 13 points. Bran­don Kratz and Mitchell Richard­son both had seven.
  Else­where on Mon­day:
  — Carthage wal­loped Stock­ton 82–34 in the first round of the Nevada Clas­sic.
  The Tigers (12−7) shot 55 per­cent from the field and hit eight 3-pointers. Desmond Buerge had a trio of treys in his 19-point effort. Keith Lawrie and Ethan Wig­gin both had 10 points and Cody Caster posted eight points and nine rebounds.

• 

 

---

January 26, 2010

Carthage falls to KC Cen­tral (Boys bas­ket­ball)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   NEVADA — Carthage lost to Kansas City Cen­tral 77–59 at the Nevada Tour­na­ment on Tues­day.
  Cen­tral shot 64 per­cent from the field.
  The Tigers were led by Keith Lawrie’s 16 points and Cody Caster’s 13. 
Else­where on Tues­day:
  — The three­some of Alex Wise, Michael Lowe and Corey Cran­dall pow­ered Neosho past Spring­field Parkview 79–68 on Tues­day.
  Wise net­ted 24 points and Lowe and Cran­dall both poured in 23.
  Neosho is 11–8, the most wins for the pro­gram since the 2004-’05 season.

• 

 

---

January 27, 2010

Lady Car­di­nals remain No. 1, Nixa stays at No. 2
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  Webb City’s girls bas­ket­ball team is still atop the Mis­souri Sports­writ­ers and Sports­cast­ers Association’s Class 4 state rank­ings.
  The Lady Car­di­nals are 15–1 enter­ing their trip Fri­day to Bran­son.
  In the Class 5 poll, Nixa is No. 2. The Lady Eagles are 15–2.
  On the boys side, Bran­son is No. 4 and Nixa No. 6 in the Class 5 rank­ings. The Pirates are 17–2 and the Eagles 17–1. 

• 

 

---

February 1, 2010

Eagles take two in one day
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  NIXA — After hav­ing the sec­ond round of the Nixa Invi­ta­tional on Fri­day post­poned due to snow, the tourney’s four teams played two games on Sat­ur­day and the host Eagles emerged as cham­pi­ons.
  Nixa edged Mt. Ver­non 46–44 in semi­fi­nal action. The Eagles hit all eight of their free-throw attempts to seal their win.
  In the cham­pi­onship game, Nixa downed Kansas City O’Hara, ranked No. 2 in Class 4, 72–45. The Eagles scored 26 points in the first quar­ter and 25 in the fourth quar­ter.
  Ben Fisher had a team-high 15 points, while Zac Hill had 14, Kameron Bundy 11 and Jalen Nor­man 10.
  Nixa is 20–1 enter­ing its home game on Fri­day with Republic.

• 

 

---

February 2, 2010

Neosho gains 12^th vic­tory (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com
  MIAMI, Okla. — Neosho improved to 12–8 by win­ning at Miami 57–33 on Tues­day.
  The Wild­cats were led by the 1–2 punch of Alex Wise and Michael Lowe. Wise had 17 points and Lowe 15.
  Else­where on Tues­day:
  — Republic’s Kevin Stander scored 21 points in the Tigers’ 45–31 tri­umph over Spring­field Cen­tral.
  Josh Mor­row added 11 points for the win­ners and Jon Combs had nine.
  — Bran­son rolled past Reeds Spring 58–46.
  Tee Helsel scored a team-high 12 points, Chris Ogden accounted for 11, Dana Thomas col­lected nine points and four steals and Matt Koomen con­tributed eight points.
  The Pirates are 18–2.

• 

 

---

Adams star­ring again for Lions (Boys bas­ket­ball alumni)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  Carthage grad Jason Adams is fol­low­ing up his ban­ner fresh­man sea­son at Mis­souri South­ern State by shin­ing as a sopho­more.
  Adams is aver­ag­ing a team-high 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. In MIAA play, his norms are 19.1 points and 7.8 rebounds. He’s started all 20 of the Lions’ games and is shoot­ing 46 per­cent from the field.
  Adams, who was the MIAA Fresh­man of the Year last season, scored seven points in a season-opening exhi­bi­tion game against Illi­nois.
  Mis­souri South­ern State is 12–8.
  Among other COC alumni shin­ing on the hard­wood are:
  — Bran­son grad Mike Wiebe tops Col­lege of the Ozarks with a 14.7 scor­ing aver­age while shoot­ing 47 per­cent from the field. He’s also aver­ag­ing 4.1 rebounds a game.
  The fresh­man guard had 16 points and six boards in the Bob­cats’ 75–73 win over defend­ing NAIA D-II national cham­pion Okla­homa Wes­leyan on Tues­day.
  — Ozark grad Tyler Oak­ley has started all 20 games for Cen­tral Mis­souri State, which is 19–1 and ranked No. 3 in NCAA D-II.
  Oak­ley is aver­ag­ing 2.5 points and 3.5 rebounds a game. 

• 

 

---

February 5, 2010

Neosho knocks off Ozark (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   NEOSHO — Alex Wise poured in 21 points and hit two free throws with 2 sec­onds to play while lead­ing Neosho past Ozark 56–55 in a Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion thriller on Fri­day.
  Wise swished 10-of-11 free-throw attempts in the fourth quar­ter alone. His win­ning free throws came after the Tigers’ Isa­iah Mon­roe made two free throws with 10 sec­onds left.
  Ozark led 51–42 with 4:35 to play.
  The Wild­cats received 14 points from Corey Cran­dall and 10 from Michael Lowe. Ozark was led by Austin Holtzclaw’s 18 points, Dylan Hord’s 13 and Monroe’s 10.
  Neosho improved to 13–8 over­all and 2–1 in con­fer­ence play. The loss dropped Ozark to 18–4 and 1–2. 
  Else­where on Fri­day:
  — At Marsh­field, Utah Find­ley and Jared Green­lee were a dynamic duo in Marshfield’s 63–61 over­time win over Spring­field Catholic in a COC Small Schools Divi­sion clash on Fri­day.
  Find­ley scored a game-high 28 points and Green­leee net­ted 24.
  Catholic received 20 points from Jack Wolf and nine from Jeff White.
  — Reeds Spring won at Forsyth 59–48, thanks to a 15–0 third-quarter run.
  The Wolves trailed 23–15 at inter­mis­sion after scor­ing just two points in the sec­ond quar­ter. They responded by scor­ing 20 in the third period and 24 in the final stanza.
  Reeds Spring hit 16-of-19 free-throw attempts.
  Alex Eng­lish topped the win­ners with 13 points, all of them com­ing in the sec­ond half. Chris Jones con­tributed a dozen, Mar­cus John­son scored 11, Johnny Willis chipped in with 10 and Ben Selby had nine.
 

 

• 

 

---

February 8, 2010

 Pirates gain 20^th vic­tory
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  BRAN­SON — A 25-point third quar­ter trig­gered Branson’s 74–47 win over Webb City in Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion play on Sat­ur­day.
  The Pirates had scored only 30 points in the first half and held just a six-point lead at inter­mis­sion.
  Avery Ding­man topped the win­ners with 18 points, while Sam Pugh net­ted 16, Tee Helsel fired in 15 and Dana Thomas con­tributed 14 points and 12 rebounds.
  Webb City received 15 points from Phillip Donna and a dozen from Austin Daniels.
  Bran­son improved to 20–2 over­all and 2–1 in con­fer­ence play. Webb City fell to 10–12 and 0–4.

• 

 

---

February 9, 2010

Spring­field Catholic edges Boli­var (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
   SPRING­FIELD — Spring­field Catholic upped its record to 2–2 in the Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Small Schools Divi­sion by nos­ing past Boli­var 52–47 on Tues­day.
  The Irish were paced by Jef­frey White’s 13 points and Mitchell Richardson’s 10 points and six rebounds.
  Bolivar’s Pre­ston Guiot scored 18 points and Dal­ton Kel­ley 13.
  Catholic improved to 12–8 over­all.
  Else­hwere on Tues­day:
  — Willard downed Neosho 73–66 in a COC Large Schools Divi­sion tus­sle.
  The Wild­cats’ Alex Wise scored 21 points, Mar­cus Mid­dle­ton added a dozen, Michael Lowe net­ted 11 and Corey Cran­dall had 10.
  Neosho fell to 13–9 over­all and 2–2 in the COC. Willard is 13–9 over­all and 4–0 in con­fer­ence play.
  — Bran­son for­ward Dana Thomas had his sec­ond straight double-double to help the Pirates past Repub­lic 57–45 in a bat­tle of COC Large Schools Divi­sion ranked teams.
  Bran­son (21−2 over­all and 3–1 in the COC) is ranked No. 4 in Class 4 and Repub­lic (14−6 and 1–3) is No. 8 in Class 4.
  Thomas col­lected 12 points and 11 rebounds. Avery Ding­man topped the Pirates with 15 points and just missed a double-double, grab­bing nine boards. Tee Helsel con­tributed 11 points, Chris Ogden had nine and Sam Pugh dished out seven assists.
  Republic’s Kevin Stander fired in a game-high 20 points and Nick Yocum chipped in 11.
  — Nixa downed Ozark 68–47 to improve to 22–1 over­all and 4–0 in the COC Large Schools Divi­sion.
  The Eagles jumped out to a 15–0 lead.

• 

 

---

February 12, 2010

Pirates, Lady Eagles named No. 1 seeds
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  SPRING­FIELD — A pair of Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion teams, Branson’s boys and Nixa’s girls, were awarded top seeds at the Class 5 Dis­trict 11 seed­ings meet­ing on Fri­day.
  On the boys side, the Pirates were named No. 1 for the sec­ond straight sea­son. They won last year’s dis­trict cham­pi­onship and are 21–2 enter­ing their home con­est with Neosho on Fri­day.
  The rest of the field includes No. 2 Nixa, No. 3 Spring­field Parkview, No. 4 Ozark, No. 5 Spring­field Kick­apoo and No. 6 Spring­field Glen­dale.
  First-round games will include Parkview-Glendale and Ozark-Kickapoo. Bran­son and Nixa will receive a first-round bye.
  On the girls side, Nixa was also named No. 1 for a sec­ond straight sea­son. The Lady Eagles (19−1 enter­ing Friday’s shodown with COC rival Webb City) won last year’s dis­trict title en route to a state cham­pi­onship.
  The rest of the field is made up of No. 2 Kick­apoo, No. 3 Parkview, No. 4 Glen­dale, No. 5 Ozark and No. 6 Bran­son.
  First-round games will be Branson-Parkview and Ozark-Glendale. Nixa and Kick­apoo get a first-round bye.
  The dis­trict will be held Feb. 22–27 at Parkview. The cham­pi­onship games will not be held on the same night, as they were last year at Ozark. The girls title game will be Feb. 26 and the boys finale is set for Feb. 27.

• 

 

---

February 13, 2010

Willard remains per­fect in COC play
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  REPUB­LIC — Willard over­came a 31-point effort by Republic’s Kevin Stander to down the host Tigers 65–56 on Fri­day.
  Willard upped its record to 14–9 over­all and 5–0 in the COC Large Schools Divi­sion. Skyler Fra­zier topped the win­ners with 18 points and Tim Huskisson added 10.
  In addi­tion to Stander’s 31, Repub­lic received nine from Dylan Fletcher.
  Else­where on Fri­day:
  — Marsh­field was a 72–45 win­ner over Hol­lis­ter in a COC Small Schools Divi­sion matchup.
  Seth Martin’s 15 points and Josh Fletcher’s 14 led Hol­lis­ter.
  — Spring­field Catholic over­came a slow start to knock off Buf­falo 45–35.
  The Irish fell behind 9–0, before gain­ing a 21–20 half­time lead.
  Catholic (13−8 over­all and 3–2 in the COC Small Schools Divi­sion) was paced by Jack Wolf and his 13 points.
  The Bison’s Jor­dan Hen­der­son had eight points in the first quar­ter and fin­ished with a dozen.
  — Reeds Spring bounced back from an over­time loss to Rogersville ear­lier in the week by win­ning at Boli­var 69–59.
  The Wolves (11−9 over­all and 3–1 in the COC Small Schools Divi­sion) hit 14-of-17 free-throws in the fourth quar­ter.  
  Boli­var led 21–13, but Reeds Spring scored 25 points in the sec­ond quar­ter to gain con­trol and had 24 in the fourth quar­ter.  
  Ben Selby led the Wolves with 21 points, Jack McCoy and Chris Jones both con­tributed 14 and Kyle Fleck con­tributed eight.  
  The Lib­er­a­tors’ Dal­ton Kelly net­ted 22 points and Pre­son Guiot 17.
  — Bran­son gained win No. 22 by out­las­ing Neosho 76–66.
  The Pirates’ Avery Ding­man had a team-high 22 points, Dana Thomas had 16 and Tee Helsel 15.
  Neosho’s Michael Lowe hit six 3-pointers in his 26-point outing. 

• 

 

---

February 26, 2010

Four COC teams to play for dis­trict titles
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  Bran­son, Nixa, Repub­lic and Reeds Spring will square off on Sat­ur­day for dis­trict titles after all four posted semi­fi­nal wins on Thurs­day.
  In Class 5 Dis­trict 11 at Spring­field Parkview, the Pirates whipped Spring­field Kick­apoo 73–41 and the Eagles out­lasted Spring­field Parkview 60–48.  
  Bran­son received 23 points and 13 rebounds from Dana Thomas and 18 points from Tee Helsel.
  Bran­son and Nixa will tan­gle at 6 p.m. on Sat­ur­day.
  In Class 4 Dis­trict 11 at Repub­lic, the host Tigers whipped McDon­ald County 65–30 and the Wolves slipped past Cassville 62–54.
  Ben Selby’s 19 points paced Reeds Spring.
  Repub­lic and Reeds Spring will meet on Sat­ur­day at 2 p.m.

• 

 

---

February 28, 2010

Nixa, Repub­lic cap­ture dis­trict titles (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  SPRING­FIELD — Nixa claimed the Class 5 Dis­trict 11 cham­pi­onship by beat­ing Bran­son 62–47 in an all-Central Ozark Con­fer­ence Large Schools Divi­sion final on Sat­ur­day.
  For Bran­son (24−4), the 47 points is a season-low.
  Nixa’s defense held the Pirates to 22 second-half points.
  Zac Hill topped the Eagles with 18 points. Avery Ding­man paced Bran­son with 21.
  Else­where on Sat­ur­day:
  — Repub­lic came back to win the Class 4 Dis­trict 11 cham­pi­onship in its 43–33 tri­umph over fel­low Cen­tral Ozark Con­fer­ence Small Schools Divi­sion mem­ber Reeds Spring.  
  The Tigers trailed 25–14 in the third quar­ter, before turn­ing the game around. Nic Yocum trig­gered the win­ners’ rally, scor­ing all 15 of his points in the sec­ond half.
  Reeds Spring received 16 points from Ben Selby. The Wolves scored 13 second-half points.

• 

 

---

March 3, 2010

Irish move into semi­fi­nals (Boys bas­ket­ball roundup)
COCPrepSports.com Staff
  FAIR GROVE — Jeff White broke loose for a 19-point effort in Spring­field Catholic’s 56–53 first-round Class 3 Dis­trict 11 tri­umph over Con­way on Tues­day.
  The third-seeded Irish received 11 points apiece from Chad McBride and Mitchell Richard­son.
  Catholic advances to meet second-seeded Fair Grove in a semi­fi­nal on Thurs­day at 7:30 p.m. The other semi­fi­nal pits Straf­ford against Seymour.

• 

 

---