By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Columbia, Mo. — Of course Walnut Grove couldn’t miss from deep for the game’s first 16 minutes.
Of course the best three-point shooting group in Missouri high school basketball history connected on nine first-half 3s.
Of course the same arena that exercised its demons on Logan Thomazin’s shooting hand one year ago played host to one of his best all-around performances of the season.
Of course even those performances almost weren’t enough. Walnut Grove (29-3) built a 14-point halftime lead over Glasgow (27-4) in Thursday’s Class 1 semifinal, eventually watching that lead shrink to a single point in the fourth quarter in a 69-63 victory inside Mizzou Arena.
Thomazin’s stroke was pristine Thursday, finishing with 14 first-quarter points on his was to 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists on 8-for-19 shooting. Remember last year’s state title game that saw Thomazin finish 0-16 from the floor and Walnut Grove connect on just 3-of-31 3s on the same floor as today? Now, the Tigers don’t either.
“We talked about last year just for Logan to get back there, get on the big stage and show people how good you are,” Walnut Grove head coach Darren Meinders, who won his 500th game as head coach on Thursday, said. “The kid is a great shooter. Last year was tough, but these kids came out, and we talked about it from Day 1, they have a target on their back and they face a challenge day in and day out.”
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Thomazin had company Thursday beyond the arc with Ryan Keith hitting 6-of-9 from deep, finishing with 19 points.
“When he’s shooting, he’s as good a shooter around,” Meinders said of Keith, who leads the Tigers in 3-point percentage at 42.3. “When he gets on a roll he doesn’t miss and he doesn’t touch rim.
“We’ve got four kids that can shoot it out there. That’s our strength. And if you want to key on Logan, we’ve got four other kids who can shoot it too.”
But what worked for Walnut Grove in the first half didn’t in the second. The Tigers’ lead stuck at 14 for the first 2.5 minutes of the second half before Glasgow began chipping away at a suddenly reserved Tigers attack.
Walnut Grove attempted just 29 3s after putting up 19 in the first half, three under its season average, and ended the game on a field-goal drought spanning 8:47 after Keith connected on a 3 with 47 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“I thought the first half we played really well and had control of the game the way we wanted it, and the second half I just think I did a poor job of coaching. Kind of pulled the reins back on us and told us to really be patient, and that’s really not the style we play, so I think we kind of lost our flow,” Meinders said.
Glasgow closed a 14-point gap to four in just over 2.5 minutes late in the third quarter and pulled within 61-60 on a Kennedy Davis bucket with 3:37 left in the game.
“I told them at halftime we had to be within double digits through three quarters to give ourselves a chance, and I thought we did a good job of getting back in the game,” Glasgow head coach Mick Cropp said. “This group has been a resilient group for a long time. It does not surprise me one bit that they got back into the basketball game the way they did tonight.”
Adam Monnig finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Glasgow and Kennedy Davis finished with 15 and 11. The Yellowjackets were led offensively by Hayden Hackman’s 18 points.
“Kennedy is a man,” Meinders said of the 6’4”, 225-pound senior center. “That’s a man-child in there. We just talked about knowing where he was at and making sure we deal with him.”
Cropp praised Hackman in the press room after the loss for his efforts on Thomazin.
“I feel like Hayden is the best defender I’ve ever coached. You hate to look down and say he did a good job when [Thomazin] scored 32 points, but the kid is tremendous. He made some tough shots. He’s just so smooth and he can do it all with either hand,” Cropp said.
Walnut Grove connected on 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off Glasgow’s comeback. The Yellowjackets had an opportunity in the game’s final minute to tie or pull within a point but couldn’t convert. Thomazin hit three free throws in the game’s final 46 seconds and connected on 12-of-16 in the game.
Walnut Grove senior Jaron Dishman started for the first time since an MCL tear in a win over Forsyth on Dec. 2, contributing seven points.
The Tigers face Advance (26-6) in Saturday’s championship at 11 am inside Mizzou Arena. Advance defeated North Andrew 88-78 Thursday.
FINAL: Walnut Grove 69, Glasgow 63
Glasgow 15 11 26 11-63
Walnut Grove 21 19 19 10- 69
Glasgow- Hayden Hackman 18, Adam Monnig 16, Kennedy Davis 15, Kabyl McMillan 10, Gage McMillan 4
Walnut Grove- Logan Thomazin 32, Ryan Keith 19, Jaron Dishman 7, Dawson Meinders 7, Hunter Gilkey 4
