[wpbvideo id=”352662″]
By Cody Thorn (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
LIBERTY, Mo. – Skyline had chances in the final minute of Saturday’s Class 2 quarterfinal contest against Plattsburg at the Liberty North Fieldhouse.
Dax Beem gave the Tigers a lead with 51 seconds left, but that turned out to be the final basket as Plattsburg hit three of four free throws in the final 30 seconds to pull out a 49-47 victory.
Skyline, down 48-47, had a charge called on it with 11.3 seconds and that forced them to foul.
Isaiah Graham hit one of two shots for Plattsburg with 9.6 seconds left, but he missed the second one.
That gave the Tigers one final chance to but they couldn’t get a shot off and the clock expired.
“We had a chance to win it, it was very close,” Skyline coach Tommy Egan said. “We didn’t play our best game offensively. The kids put in a lot of time and a lot of heart up to this point to get this close and come up short.
“We kind of felt going into the day, it would be a game of runs and come down to one or two possessions at the end. I’m proud of how they responded and proud of them for battling and putting ourselves in a position to win.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
The win vaults Plattsburg, a member of the KCI Conference, to the state final four for the first time in school history. Plattsburg was 1-6 in the previous six playoff trips but doubled that total this week, but not without a fight in this showdown.
Skyline (20-9) trailed 34-29 going into the fourth and a bucket by Graham made it 36-29. A little more than a minute later, Plattsburg extended the lead to 39-31 after a three-point play by Garrett Stephens.
After a Skyline player tipped what would’ve been a defensive rebound. Stephens was under the basket and the ball bounced off his head and into his hands. He went up with a shot, made it, and then made the free throw after drawing a foul.
“These type of game, it just takes a bounce,” Egan said. “I know it is cliché, but it is true. Once bounce makes all the difference in the world.”
The eight-point deficit was the largest and Skyline eventually forged a tie at 47. The Tigers still trailed Plattsburg (22-8) by five with less than two minutes to play, but a basket by Zach Williams made it 46-43 and with 1:19 left, Beem scored to make it 46-45. Beem finished with 13 points, one of two Skyline player to finish in double figures. Jaytin DeFreece led the way with 17 points.
The next time Beem scored it tied the game for the first time all day, but Skyline never got another shot off.
“We know we can shoot, we know we can score the basketball, but at times this season, we didn’t know if we could depend on our defense,” Plattsburg coach Simon Morefield said. “It’s comforting to us, and it breeds our comfort in our program that even when those shots don’t fall, we got the defense (today) to back us up.”
Plattsburg got off to a hot start and took a 22-10 lead after the first quarter behind four 3-pointers the final 4 minutes of the frame. Kaden Hodge, who had a game-high 19, hit two of them in the stretch.
Then, Plattsburg went the entire second quarter without a point and Skyline took the lead on Chris Logan’s back-to-back 3-pointers. Skyline led 24-22 at the break but went the entire third quarter without a basket, hitting only five free throws, to trail by five.y
