By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Hello, Cade Blevins.
After a quiet three and a half quarters, the sophomore came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of Rogersville’s final 16 points to help put away COC rival Bolivar 48-36 Wednesday night in the Gold Bracket of the Blue & Gold Tournament.
“He’s one of our best shooters but he’s very timid at times,” said Rogersville coach John Schafer. “He needs to understand that for us to be better and be good that he has to take shots and make plays. He’s fallen into his role but he can really shoot the ball, he just doesn’t take many shots. For that one to go that was big for us and he kind of snapped out of it and picked up the pace of play at both ends. It got him going. He’s going to continue to get better but he’s a big part of what we do.”
Blevins biggest shot was his first make of the game, which came with just under five minutes to play.
After catching on the wing and knocking down an uncontested 3-point FG, the Cats scored 12 of the game’s next 17 points.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The bucket also gave the Cats a shot of energy defensively, helping them close out what was a masterful performance where they allowed a season-low in points.
Bolivar managed just three field goals over the course of the second and third quarter.
“Our length is good, our matchup zone is continuing to get better too,” said Schaefer. “We knew they were going to shoot a lot of 3s and so we extended our zone a little bit so we could get out and contest and that’s really it. The reason they struggled to score at times was because they had to slow down and get in spaces and be patient. They were also one shot and done. Our guys have bought in and understand that for us to be competitive and to beat people we’re going to have to keep the numbers low. We don’t have a great arsenal of scorers right now.”
Rogersville was led by Luke Vandersnick’s 12 points. Corey Spindler scored a game-high 15 points for Bolivar.
It was LR’s first win over Bolivar since 2014.
Now, Rogersville will take on fellow COC rival Springfield Catholic for the right to play for a Blue and Gold title. The Cats will see both teams again after the New Year during conference play. LogRog has also already played both Republic and Ozark, one of whom they’ll play for either a championship or third-place title on Friday.
“It’s tough and if you’re on the losing end of it I think it’s good the second time around because you know what things you need to switch up,” said Schaefer. “The Blue and Gold is tough because of how good the basketball is in the area and the COC but no, I don’t want to have to play those teams any more times than I have to so it makes things even tougher.”
Rogersville 48, Bolivar 36
Rogersville 7 12 9 20
Bolivar 13 3 9 11
Rogersville – Luke Vandersnick 12, Cade Blevins 9, Andrew Scott 7, Hunner Johnson 7, Jackson VonBehren 6, AJ Craft 6, Ryker Strong 1
Bolivar – Corey Spindler 15, Jaden Spindler 5, Kyler Murphy 5, Jamison Jones 5, Ian Jones 4, Levi Manning 2
