[wpbvideo id=’302975′]
Mtn. Grove senior Treye Collins was fearless and overexcited. Panthers coach Duane Hiler was confident. Fair Grove coach Tim Brown was devastated but thankful.
Simply put, there were a lot of emotions during, and immediately after, the final six seconds of Saturday night’s Class 3 boys’ state quarterfinal between Mtn. Grove and Fair Grove, a rematch of the two schools’ down-to-wire meeting in the same round from a year ago.
Collins’ two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining pushed the Panthers back to state, as Mtn. Grove edged Fair Grove, 50-49. Mtn. Grove (28-2 overall) faces St. Louis public school Transportation and Law (19-10 overall) at 8:20 p.m. Thursday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia in a Class 3 state semifinals matchup.
“I just had that thought in my mind – going up there knowing I could make a free throw,” Collins said. “I just did it.”
Collins, a senior and the Panthers’ starting point guard, was in a similar situation earlier this week against Southern Boone in the sectional round. He made two free throws in the final seconds to seal Mtn. Grove’s 72-68 win.
Trailing 49-48 against Fair Grove with 6.1 seconds left, Mtn. Grove in-bounded the ball near half-court and set a screen for Collins, who took the pass and quickly drove to the basket on an open path before being fouled with about three seconds remaining.
“We just told (Collins), ‘We’re going to set (the play) up for you. Bring us home,’” Hiler said. “He’s a gamer. These kids are gamers. Sometimes they just will their way to a win. They find a way.”
PHOTOS: FAIR GROVE VS. MTN. GROVE
Collins made both free throws. Fair Grove, with no timeouts remaining, got the ball in the hands of its leading scorer, senior Garrett Kesterson. He split two defenders near mid-court, took a few more dribbles and released a 3-point runner from about 23 feet that hit the front of the rim as time expired.
“Honestly, I think I celebrated a little too quickly because we only had three seconds left, but I was just happy (the free throws) went in,” Collins said. “Kesterson put a good shot on and it just missed. I’m glad that we got the win.”
Added Hiler: “Any time Kesterson touches it, I think it’s going in. We kind of overplayed a little bit and he got a running start there, but we did a pretty good job of recovering and not fouling.”
Fair Grove senior Dalton Cloyd split a pair of free throws with 11.2 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 49-48 lead. Fair Grove, with two fouls to give before Mtn. Grove was in the bonus, committed a pair of fouls in the next five seconds followed by Mtn. Grove calling a timeout to set up its in-bound play for Collins.
“I felt a little unorganized. We didn’t have any timeouts to burn,” said Fair Grove coach Tim Brown. “We tried to kill some clock with our fouls to give and not give them as much time. You’re still not as organized as you’d like to be to talk about things. Flip side is 20-20. We maybe would have liked to wait a few more (seconds) before fouling, but it happens.”
Fair Grove finishes 25-6 overall and sees its season end in the state quarterfinals against Mtn. Grove for the second straight season. The Eagles’ senior class won two district titles, ended a conference-title drought and, overall, took the program to “new heights” during their careers, Brown said.
“I’m super proud of these guys and these seniors and what they mean to our program,” Brown said. “They’ve done so much. They’ve raised the bar. They’ve put Fair Grove on the map.”
Since the 2013-14 season, Fair Grove’s season has been ended by teams (Strafford, Mtn. Grove) that advanced to the Class 3 final four.
Last year in the state quarterfinals against Mtn. Grove, Fair Grove lost a halftime lead and saw its leading scorer – then-senior Kyle Cavanaugh – foul out on a controversial technical foul call in the third quarter.
“We were unable to celebrate our season last year,” Brown said. “There just wasn’t closure after the end of it. This year, our kids gave everything they could.”
A pair of Evan Fullerton 3s gave Fair Grove a 48-45 lead with 3:15 remaining. Connor McNew tied the game with a 3-pointer on Mtn. Grove’s next possession.
Fair Grove committed a turnover, but the Panthers threw up an air ball on their ensuing possession to give the ball back to the Eagles with 1:30 remaining. Fair Grove, amid defensive pressure by Mtn. Grove, was forced to take two timeouts but burned over a minute off the clock before Cloyd’s free throw attempts.
Carter Otwell scored 13 and Brock Coffman added 12 points for Mtn. Grove.
Kesterson scored 16 to lead the Eagles. Fair Grove led by eight in the second quarter and 42-38 earlier in the fourth quarter, but Mtn. Grove battled back each time.
“Every team’s different, but this one is special,” Hiler said. “All the way down through the run here, we win games that we’re not supposed to. We win games where everybody’s kind of given up. These kids are winners and gamers.”
Mtn. Grove beat Fair Grove 78-72 at home on Dec. 22. Fair Grove focused on limiting Mtn. Grove’s transition attack in the rematch.
“Hat’s off to Fair Grove. They had a great game plan,” Hiler said. “They slowed the ball down, took away the fastbreak and limited our possessions.”
Kesterson finished with 353 3-pointers for his career, two shy of the MSHSAA record held by Odessa’s Paul Rorvig (1997-2000).
Fair Grove also graduates seniors Cloyd and Fullerton.
“Not only are they great kids, but they’ve allowed us to challenge them,” Brown said. “When your best players allow you to challenge them, it sets the tone for everybody else.”
Next season, the Eagles will likely field a varsity rotation that includes seniors Steven Huskey and Garret Potter, and sophomores Cole Gilpin and David Oplotnik.
“We were eight seconds away,” Brown said. “Sports can be a very brutal thing some times. The thing that’s special about our guys is that they play sports because they love it. They don’t let sports define who they are. They’re better people and better kids than they are athletes, and they’re really dang good athletes.”
Mtn. Grove 50, Fair Grove 49
Fair Grove 7 17 13 12 — 49
Mtn. Grove 7 14 15 14 — 50
Fair Grove – Garrett Kesterson 16, Cole Gilpin 10, Evan Fullerton 9, Dalton Cloyd 7, Steven Huskey 4, David Oplotnik 3
Mtn. Grove – Carter Otwell 13, Brock Coffman 12, Treye Collins 10, Connor McNew 9, Cade Coffman 6
