It was a battle of the offenses on Friday night as the Rolla Bulldogs prevailed with a victory over the Glendale Falcons in an Ozark Conference showdown 96-88.
Rolla senior Kobe Wands scored a career high 39 points.
Rolla, the No. 4 ranked team in the latest Missouri Class 4 poll, opened up a 14-5 lead early in the first quarter thanks in part to a hot start by seniors Sam Marshall and Kobe Wands.
“It was nice to get off to a good start,” Rolla head coach Mark Miller said. “It was important because you know how well Glendale can score the basketball, and we struggled to get off to a good start in our loss at Kickapoo on Tuesday,”
Glendale crawled back with a run of their own as sophomore Monty Johal scored 14 of his 22 first half points to tie the game at 25 at the end of the first quarter.
Johal finished the game with 37 points, and sophomore Jordan Walton also scored 25.
“They (Jordan Walton and Monty Johal) are great players,” Wands said. “You can’t really stop them so your only hope is to contain them. I can’t wait to see them whenever they are seniors,”
Rolla was able to start the second quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 34-25 lead after two three-pointers from Josh Pritchett and another three-pointer from Logan Short.
Glendale stretched the lead to as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but Rolla was able to grind their way back in to the game as Kobe Wands hit a jump shot to beat the buzzer to tie the game at 75 apiece to end the third quarter.
The Falcons held an 85-83 lead with 1:50 remaining, but Kobe Wands scored his most important points of the night as he knocked down a three-pointer to give the Bulldogs a one point lead.
“We were down about Tuesday,” Wands said. “We didn’t want to have that feeling again, and you could tell that there late in the fourth quarter we really kicked it in. You knew that we were not going to lose this game.”
Wands was able to knock down 9 free throws in the fourth quarter to secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
“He (Kobe) is certainly one of the best guards in the state,” Miller said. “The thing about him is that he is a great basketball player, but an even better person. His work ethic and character is hard to find these days,”
“That Glendale team can really play. I really am just thankful to come out of here with a win.”
Glendale (14-9) received the number one seed and a first round bye in the Class 4, District 11 tournament and will play the winner of Logan-Rogersville vs. Hillcrest on March 3rd at 6:00 P.M. at Rogersville High School.
Rolla (23-2) will be in the Class 4, District 10 tournament and will have their seeding meeting Saturday morning.
High school boys' basketball
GLENDALE 88, ROLLA 96
on Friday, at Glendale
Rolla 25 21 29 21 — 96
Glendale 25 17 33 13 — 88
Rolla (22-3, 8-1) — Kobe Wands 39, Zach Brown 6, Sam Marshall 14, Logan Short 15, Nick Janke 7, Josh Pritchett 12, Zac Burns 2, Blaize Klossner 1.
Glendale (14-9) — Zach Helm 12, Monty Johal 37, Tristan Baker 6, Jordan Walton 25, Will Sachs 5, Josh Call 3.
