By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It’s not always how you start, but how you finish. And, with what started as a corner 3-pointer, ended with a monumental run.
Rolla scored 22 of the game’s last 30 points to knock off Joplin 56-38, spoiling the Eagles Homecoming in Ozark Conference action Friday at Joplin High School.
“We’ve got some guys that can possess the basketball very well, but they can also attack,” said Rolla coach Mark Miller. “We spread it a little bit and tried to get them off balance with the dribble and we were able to create some fouls, went to the line and they were cash at the line.”
While the free throw shooting was an imperative part of the run, so was Rolla’s ability to win one-on-one battles.
The Bulldogs were able to either force help on dribble penetration, allowing easy lockouts, or they were able to score at the rim.
Leading the attack was 6-foot-4 senior Josh Prichett, who spent an extended period of time at point guard with Blaize Klossner missing the game due to injury.
Pritchett scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the first half, helping Rolla grab a 25-20 lead. In the second half he took on a facilitating role.
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“He’s very long and physically strong, but he’s rarely out of control and handles the ball well,” said Joplin coach Jeff Hafer. “He’s underrated. They have so many good compliments to him and can space it because everyone can shoot it. When they’re making shots like they did tonight he becomes even more effective.”
Defensively, Rolla put together one of its best defensive performances, holding the Eagles to a season-low 38 points. It is the fourth time this season the Bulldogs have held a team to 40 points or fewer.
Evan Guillory and Austin Higdon – Joplin’s leading scorers – were held to a combined 11 points.
“We feel like Joplin is going to compete for a conference championship; that’s a high-quality basketball team,” said Miller. “We were down a starter and felt like we couldn’t guard man-to-man without him so we felt like our next best option was to give some zone looks. We switched it up a few times to change their attack angles, but our guys were really in tune with each other and kept talking. To hold them to 38 points is a testament to how hard our guys work.”
Joplin has now lost three of its last four games.
The Eagles, with four of their top six scorers being sophomores, continue to learn and grow under immense expectations after an undefeated start through the 2017 portion of the schedule.
They now enter a meat grinder of the season where they’ll see Parkview, Waynesville, Hillcrest, Kickapoo and Glendale.
“We’re going to get better,” said Hafer. “They’re an experienced team and have guys that played a lot last year. That’s what we hope to be next year. But by the time March rolls around and in districts we need to be growing and closer to having that kind of composure. I love our kids’ heart and when things are going bad they want to put their head down and try to make that play that gets us back in it, but there’s not a 10-point play. Our intentions are good, but we’ve got to grow up and mature as a group a little bit.
“We’ve got to understand that it’s great to have that fire, but we’ve got to do it within our offensive system. We’ve got to trust one another a little bit more. And we’re going to get there. I have complete confidence in this group. We’re going to learn from it and we need to because it doesn’t get any easier moving forward.”
Rolla entered the state polls for the first time this season, coming in at No. 7 in Class 4. The Bulldogs have now won 14 straight games and haven’t lost since Dec. 1 to Ozark.
Miller believes that its conceivable to maintain the current run.
“We think we can continue this,” said Miller. “It was helpful tonight to see our guys take the next man up approach and if we keep getting quality minutes from our entire bench, the sky will be the limit for these guys.”
