There was a lot of back-and-forth in Saturday’s Ozark Conference showdown between host Glendale and Waynesville.
Glendale finished the first quarter with a 22-16 lead with help from Monty Johal, Jordan Walton and Garrett Freeman, who each made a three-point shot.
“I thought we did a good job early establishing how we wanted to play,” Glendale head coach Brian McTague said.
Midway through the second quarter it became apparent to everyone in the gymnasium that the game would be a close one.
Practically evenly matched, Glendale and Waynesville continually kept the score tied. Hoping to have at least a four-point lead going into the third quarter, the Falcons tried to keep possession and attempted a shot with ten seconds remaining. But the ball got away and Waynesville freshman Tahja Stewart managed a layup in the final second to tie it up again, 32-32.
After a halftime show featuring the Glendale dance team, Waynesville was quick to jump out in front with five athletes contributing points, and finished the quarter with a slim 49-45 lead. But before the Tigers knew it, Glendale was ahead again and managed to keep the lead for the majority of the fourth quarter.
Only natural from evenly matched teams, Waynesville rebounded a missed shot with 6.5 seconds remaining and scored right before the buzzer to tie the game 60-60 and enter overtime.
Due to some foul trouble on Waynesville’s end, Glendale went 6-for-6 in free throws. Four of those came from Zach Helm. By making those shots, holding Waynesville to three points, and getting a couple of layups from Johal, Glendale prevailed 72-63.
Waynesville head coach Chris Pilz said, “I thought we played well, just not enough to win.”
McTague said, “I told the kids, ‘Winning is always better than losing, but hopefully this is a game that we learn something from and figure out how to win these close games.’”
Johal (6-foot-3) led the Falcons with 20 points, alongside Walton’s 18.
“They have savviness about them. They’re not going to turn the ball over very often and they’re both going to make free throws,” McTague said.
On the defensive side, McTague was pleased with junior Josh Call’s efforts.
“He made big plays defensively. It’s not going to show up on a stats sheet, but he was very active defensively. He really got his hands into a lot of stuff and face guarded Joe Johnson a lot of the time,” he said.
Waynesville’s Dwayne Morton led all scorers with a total of 21 points. Also scoring in double digits for the Tigers was Joe Johnson.
Waynesville, now 1-2 in the Ozark Conference, is set to hit the road Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game at Republic High School.
Glendale (8-5, 2-0) will host Lebanon for another Ozark Conference showdown on Tuesday.
BOX SCORE
| 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | OT | F | |
| Glendale | 22 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 72 |
| Waynesville | 16 | 16 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 63 |
Glendale: Monty Johal 20, Jordan Walton 18, Tristan Baker 12, Zach Helm 11, Spencer Wester 4, Garrett Freeman 3, Josh Call 2, Seth Flattery 2
Waynesville: Dwayne Morton 21, Joe Johnson 15, Reggie Walker 8, Cedric Williams 8, Trey Simpson 7, David Adams 4
