By Derek Shore (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Pierce City, Mo – A common cliche in sports is playing all four quarters.
That was the very definition of the Purdy Eagles on Friday night.
Despite trailing top-seeded Pierce City 19-6 in the first quarter, the Eagles scratched and clawed their way to a 55-51 upset win over the Eagles of Pierce City en route to the Class 2 – District 12 championship.
“We’ve been in that situation before and we were in that same situation last night (in the district semifinals),” Purdy head coach Jeremy Dresslaer said. “I’ve got a great group of guys that we preached to all year that we are going to win a game in four quarters.
“The first three minutes of the first and the first three minutes of the third are the most important, but it doesn’t matter. We got four full quarters. We’ve been there and at the end we just made plays.”
Pierce City opened the game with a 19-14 edge in the first quarter paced by Trey Sagehorn’s nine point outburst.
But…
“They hit us in the mouth early, but we were composed,” Dresslaer said.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Purdy countered and held Pierce City to only six points all while claiming a 28-25 lead to end the first half of play led by Joby Young and Osiel Aldava, who combined for half of the offensive production going into intermission.
But once again Pierce City bounced back as Donell Kleiboeker laid in two easy layups right off the bat in the third quarter, causing Purdy to call a quick timeout.
As Pierce City was threatening, Young, Jose Sanchez, and Tyler Keeler each knocked down three’s which allowed Purdy to go into the fourth and final frame deadlocked at 39-39.
Each side continued to swap leads as the game neared its end.
“Our game plan down the stretch was to make them shoot the ball,” Dresslaer said. “We got to protect home. Every time they scored or went on a run, we didn’t protect home. As soon as we made them play outside, that’s to our advantage.
“We got gapped out really high in our 2-3 (zone). I didn’t like that. When we called that last timeout and we got them sucked way in, it slowed their offense way down.”
With the season on the line, all eyeballs on him in what was a packed crowd, and less than 20 seconds left on the clock, Keeler went to the charity stripe and came through, sinking both of his free throw attempts to help Purdy claim their second district title in three years.
“It showed a ton of poise,” Dresslaer said. “When you preach from day one, we are only worried about ourselves and doing our jobs. If we go to work and do our jobs, we will always win.”
Keeler, Young, and Hunter Cook led the way for Purdy with nine points each. Keeling and Aldava scored nine apiece as well.
On the Pierce City side, Donell Kleiboeker had a game-high 16 points while Dallas Kleiboeker added 13 points, Hunter Tindell with 11 points, and Sagehorn with ten. They finish the season with a 22-7 overall record.
“This is one of the best groups we’ve ever had as far as great kids,” Pierce City head coach Matt Street said. “I tell them all the time – I’ve got two boys and if mine grow up to be the who these boys are, I’m going to be pretty happy with it. I’ll look back on this season and it was definitely a success.
“We were just four points short of what we wanted.”
Purdy (22-6) advances to the sectional round of the Class 2 State Tournament to play Blue Eye this Wednesday at Carthage.
“We just got to go back to practice, go to the drawing board, and just get prepared for whatever Blue Eye has for us,” Keeler said.
