Aurora had the right strategy on Thursday night in Rogersville. The #4-seeded Houn' Dawgs faced West Plains for the opportunity to advance to the Class 4 District 11 championship game. They'll get that chance as they defeated the Zizzers 64-46.
"We had a game plan coming into the game as afar as what we wanted to do offensively and defensively," said Daniel Cutbirth, the Houn' Dawgs head coach. "What it boiled down to was that our kids executed."
West Plains opened up the game 4-0 but Aurora quickly caught fire, going on a 13-2 spurt. One of a number of Houn' Dawgs seniors, Austin Carmichael had the hot hand scoring seven points during the run. Carmichael scored 18 points and nabbed eight rebounds in the game.
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The Dawgs' aggressive man-to-man defense forced six turnovers in the first period alone and 10 in the first half. West Plains had difficulty in getting shot opportunities and those that they got were often from the perimeter as Aurora made it difficult to get to the rim.
Coach Cutbirth was pleased with how his team performed on defense. "Our kids did a really nice job of protecting the paint," he said. "We got a lot of one and dones and we were able to capitalize on that early."
The second period saw several stretches where the teams traded baskets. As a result, the Zizzers couldn't cut into the Dawgs' lead and trailed 35-22 at the half.
West Plains (13-11) came out in a man defense and forced five turnovers in the third period. The problem was that neither team could seemingly his a field goal. Sidney Jones did all of the scoring for the Zizzers in the period. He had five points–two field goals and a free throw–in the frame and scored 11 points in the game. Christian Robbins led the Zizzers in scoring with 16 points.
When West Plains tried to go back to a zone defense, the Houn' Dawgs were patient and worked with offense until they got the mismatch they wanted. Logan Bader posted up a much smaller Zizzer and made an easy basket down low. That was the last of the West Plains' zone for the night. Bader scored six of the eight points for Aurora in the quarter; he led all scorers with 20 points on the night.
The Dawgs have a lot of flexibility on offense. "Carmichael can play one through five, any position on the floor, and it makes us versatile," said Cutbirth. "Same thing with the Bader kid: you stick a small kid on him, he'll post you; you put a big on him, he'll drive around them.
Down 16 points starting the fourth quarter, West Plains had to foul the Dawgs to conserve time. Aurora shot 21 free throws in the fourth quarter. Guard Josh Fronabarger reaped the benefits most often as he went 10-for10 from the line in the period.
Aurora (20-7) will play Glendale for the Class 4 District 11 championship in Rogersville Saturday at 4:00 pm.
West Plains: 8, 14, 5, 19–46
Aurora: 16, 19, 8, 21–64
West Plains: Adkisson, 5; Jones, 11; Mahan, 4; Nichols, 2; Riley, 8; Robbins, 16
Aurora: Bader, 20; Carmichael, 18; Fronabarger, 12; Meredith, 2; Hilton, 10; Naylor, 2
