Four little words said it all for the Purdy Eagles after their win over Marionville on Wednesday night: the wait is over.
After going 25 long years without a state quarterfinal appearance, Purdy (20-8) finally brought its drought to an end – nabbing a 66-61 victory over the Comets (19-11) and locking up one of eight final spots in the Class 2 playoffs.
“It feels awesome, I'm just so happy with our kids,” head coach Tommy Egan said after the historic win. “They put it all out there like they always do and I was just happy to see them get rewarded.”
Coming into the game, the focal point was the contrast of styles that both teams possessed. With Purdy utilizing a run-and-gun style offense and Marionville finding comfort in more deliberate play, something had to give.
But nothing did.
Proven by eight ties and 12 lead-changes, both teams successfully countered each other's pace as neither squad could muster a lead larger than four points into the final minutes of the fourth period – slowly bringing emotions from both sides to a fever pitch.
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“We just tried to enjoy it, but stay intense,” said Egan in reference to the game's back-and-forth flow. “There were all kinds of different emotions.”
Egan was instrumental in ensuring those emotions didn't get the best of his squad in the game's final quarter as Purdy finally found the breakthrough it was looking for – rolling off seven consecutive points after leading 48-47 with just over three minutes to go.
After feeling lucky that his Eagles still even had a shot at winning the game after the first 16 minutes, Egan saw his club impose its will in crunch time and move into the driver's seat.
“We were lucky to have what we had at the half, we hit some lucky shots,” added Egan. “But late in the third and in the fourth, we started getting some steals, we started getting some layups, we didn't have to set up our offense as much, and that was a big help.”
The 7-0 run, comprised of back-to-back buckets by Hunter Cook and Raul Garcia and a trio of free-throws, spelled the beginning of the end for Marionville.
Down by as many as eight with 1:36 to play, the Comets extended the game as long as possible, but a commendable performance at the charity stripe salted the game away for Purdy.
In the final two minutes of the fourth, the Eagles sunk 14 foul shots – six of which came off the hand of sophomore guard Tyler Keeler.
“We practice free-throws every day in game-like situations,” Keeler said. “You've got to put them through in the clutch.”
Keeler also knocked down three shots from the floor in the period, including a 3-ball, giving him 13 points in the final frame to lead the late charge.
Purdy will take on its stiffest challenge yet as it gets ready to face Hartville (26-4) in the Class 2 quarterfinal round on Saturday.
Box Score
Marionville – 9 10 17 25 – 61
Purdy – 8 14 13 31 – 66
Marionville – Tanner Wright 13, Rane Bateman 13, Lathan Kerans 12, Cole Brown 9, Brandon Horn 8, Aaron Head 6
Purdy – Sydney Birge 17, Tyler Keeler 15, Jonatan Salazar 10, Luis Cruz 9, Hunter Cook 8, Raul Garcia 7
