School of the Ozarks’ 3-point barrage started early, with senior Johnny Widner serving as the culprit.
The senior hit three treys in the first quarter, boosting the Patriots to an early 17-3 lead over Greenwood. It proved to be a knockout blow, as School of the Ozarks led by double digits for the remainder of the game on its way to a 70-48 home win Thursday night.
The Patriots hit 10 treys in the game, six coming in the first half as they led 35-21 by halftime.
“We haven’t shot it that well this season,” said Patriots coach Jerry Martin. “We have some guys that shoot it nice, release nice and we’ve had nights where a couple of guys hit two or three (3-pointers), maybe 4 (3-pointers) once in a while. We make enough that it makes people stretch defensively; we haven’t shot it like that yet.
“I turned to my assistant coach tonight and go, ‘I hope we can shoot like that in the district tournament. It gives you more juice on defense, it helps everything.”
Widner added his fourth and final triple in the second quarter, finishing with 14 points. Keaton Tillack scored 16 and Cade Martin added 15 points to give the Patriots three players in double figures.
GAME PHOTOS: GREENWOOD VS. SCHOOL OF THE OZARKS BOYS
“In the scouting report, we had, ‘No. 22 (Widner) can really shoot it. Make sure we know where he’s at,’” said Greenwood coach Darren Taylor. “We didn’t do it and that’s just mental lapses that we shouldn’t make.”
Free throws were also a struggle for Greenwood (9-9 overall). The Blue Jays finished 5-for-18 at the free throw line, compared to School of the Ozarks making 10 of its 12 attempts.
“We said at halftime, ‘If you make five of those free throws and guard them on two of those 3s, there’s 11 points and it’s a 3-point basketball game instead of a 14-point basketball game,” Taylor said. “I didn’t think (School of the Ozarks) would continue to shoot it that well, but they did in the second half. Then, they started hitting their mid-range shots. They have a nice ball club and several different places to attack you from.”
Julius Walker led Greenwood with 15 points, but faced double teams and extra help defenders throughout the night. Carson Turner made four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points for Greenwood.
“We went in for our pregame talk and I wrote, ‘(Walker’s) really good and here’s what our plan is,’” Martin said. “I underlined team defense. We weren’t going to put anybody on an island, leave them alone and say, ‘Come on, now. Guard a good kid.’ They bought in and they’re good kids. We have one junior and four seniors starting, they’re old and wise. They play together.”
School of the Ozarks, which won its first district title in program history last season, improved to 12-3 overall. The Patriots face Blue Eye Friday night.
Greenwood hosts Ash Grove on Tuesday night.
School of the Ozarks 70, Greenwood 48
Greenwood 8 13 8 19 — 48
School of the Ozarks 21 14 20 15 — 70
Greenwood – Julius Walker 15, Carson Turner 12, Joseph Brock 6, Gavin Litherland 6, Tate Dukewits 4, Matt Rowe 3, Garrett Nau 2
School of the Ozarks – Keaton Tillack 16, Cade Martin 15, Jhonny Widner 14, Nate Brown 6, Coby Dollof 6, Teddy Linger 5, Billy Evans 4, Zach Martin 2, Jackson Williams 2
In a game where turnovers plagued both teams, Greenwood hung on – literally – for the victory.
The Blue Jays never relinquished their slim lead in the fourth quarter and sealed the game with two free throws by Katherine Ulmer with 4 seconds remaining. School of the Ozarks missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer as Greenwood improved to 10-4 on the season.
“It was kind of a deal where you get into a possession game,” said Greenwood coach Kent Hedgpeth. “You just hoped that you’d have better possessions than they did. And we probably did by two or three there in the last three or four minutes.”
Greenwood never trailed in the game and managed to answer every School of the Ozarks basket in the final eight minutes.
Hannah Duncan’s putback got the Patriots within 25-24 with under two minutes remaining, but Greenwood answered by breaking the ensuing full-court press and scoring on a layup by Meredith Sharp.
​GAME PHOTOS: GREENWOOD VS. SCHOOL OF THE OZARKS GIRLS
Another School of the Ozarks putback – this one by Emily Brown – cut Greenwood’s lead to 27-26 with 26 seconds remaining. After Greenwood missed the front end of a one-and-one, School of the Ozarks raced the ball to the other end but missed a shot near the basket.
Ulmer grabbed the rebound and knocked down a pair of free throws to give Greenwood (10-4 overall) some late insurance.
“We’d been pressing the whole game and that would work fairly well, then we’d give up a couple of layups off it,” said Patriots coach Andrea Martin. “It backfired on us a couple of times.”
Neither team hit a 3-pointer in the game. Greenwood was content to pack in its 3-2 zone, daring School of the Ozarks (6-10 overall) to shoot from the perimeter.
“If we don’t hit outside shoots, then (Greenwood) just packs it all in on us,” Martin said. “We had trouble scoring. We’re usually pretty good against (zone) if we can move the ball around.”
Greenwood senior Amy Abdalla finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds. Abdalla, a four-year starter, surpassed 1,000 career points in the game.
“She’s been a 10-point, 10-rebound person for the first three years of her career,” Hedgpeth said. “She’s scored a few more points this year because she’s had to. She’s working really hard – getting a lot of offensive rebounds – and having a nice season.
“She’s one of those people that quietly gets 1,000 (points).”
Greenwood 29, School of the Ozarks 26
Greenwood 5 8 5 11 — 29
School of the Ozarks 2 6 8 10 — 26
Greenwood – Amy Abdalla 11, Meredith Sharp 9, Katherine Ulmer 5, Meredith Montgomery 4
School of the Ozarks – Evie Carswell 10, Hannah Duncan 8, Emily Brown 6, Emma Mackey 2
