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By Jordan Burton (for O-Zone)
The only way to prepare to win a district tournament is to get tournament experience – specifically winning back-to-back games against talented teams – under your belt.
On Saturday, Forsyth made it two-for-two this season.
Four weeks after winning the 57th Annual Forsyth Tournament, the Panthers overcame an early deficit to shock defending Class 1 state champion Walnut Grove in the championship of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic, 70-62.
“I’m very excited about this win,I don’t care what class they’re in, they’re good,” said Forsyth head coach Josh Hart. “They return a lot from the state championship team. We have graduated quite a few. Tonight we had young guys step up and give us great minutes.I’m ecstatic with this group, if I could take them all back I would. I love this team.”
Maybe the two most vital contributions came from Hart’s senior leaders, Machaiah Rocha and Anthony Stanford.
Rocha, the team’s leading scorer, dropped a game-high 26 points with 20 of those coming in the second half and 14 coming in the fourth quarter where he sparked an 11-3 run with a pair of back-to-back acrobatic drives.
“That’s Ki,” said Hart. “He took over and that’s how you win championships. He’s been hesitant in years past to take on that’s role but as a senior he has finally embraced it. This year he decided that we are winning and he has put us on his back a few times.
Defensively, Stanford – who has already guard some of the top scorers in the Ozarks – held 3-Point King Logan Thomazin to just 14 points ( 11 below his season average), including limiting the gifted scorer to zero points in the fourth quarter.
“He loves basketball because if he can go guard someone he can have a direct impact,” said Hart. “He asked to to guard Logan. He can have who he wants and he always wants the other teams best player. He challenges himself every game and regardless if the the other kid gets twenty or if he gets five he will have to work for it.”
Stanford also finished with 22 points. While no other player reached double figures for the Panthers, Hart was giddy over the contributions of his team, 1-12.
He believes that kind of performance is something this group – which already owns wins over Strafford, Blue Eye and Reeds Spring – can build on.
“We have a few kids that dominate in stats but tonight was about all twelve, especially the kids that may not get stats but so their job,” said Hart.
“These kids want to win, we had a little tase of it and we kinda like it. It’s something that has looted four side in previous years, but these guys know what it takes to win. We’ve got a lot of missions and goals. We’ll take one day off and go back to work on Monday.”
For Walnut Grove, this continues to be a season of distractions. Not necessarily for the Tigers, but for everyone else.
They still haven’t lost to a single Class 1 team and two of their losses have come to Class 4 teams, with two more coming to Class 3 squads.
Getting Hunter Gilkey back from injury – who finished with a team-high 23 points – is huge. Junior Dawson Meinders added 21 points for the Tigers.
This group still feels like they’re the team to beat in Class 1.
“We know where we want to be in March,” said Walnut Grove coach Darin Meinders. “We’ve faced some injuries and know we aren’t in the shape we need to be right now, but also know that when we get healthy and in shape we will be a handful. These loses will make us better and stronger when it counts.”
Life gets no easier for Grove, who takes on Class 2 No. 2 Mid-Buchanan in six days. Forsyth will begin its quest for the SWCL title on Tuesday at Billings.
