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By Tyler Thompson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Greenwood Blue Jays improved to 10-0 Saturday as as they displayed resolve down the stretch to hang on and pull off the upset against the Ozark Tigers, 51-47, at the Gold Division semifinals.
The Jays entered the tilt as the No. 3 seed and Ozark was favored as the two seed.
The Blue Jays aren’t done though, as they have a date with Kickapoo at 8:30 p.m. Monday for the Gold Division championship.
Junior Aminu Mohammed led all scorers with 34 points.
Ozark doubled Mohammed all night long, but it didn’t seem to matter as the junior and 2018-19 state champion still did damage via dribble penetration and often times utilizing his patent spin move as he navigated his way through the paint.
So, how does a player net 34 points while being doubled and bracketed for the entire 32 minutes of play?
“It is just the hard work I have been putting in all summer,” he said. “That just pays off right now. Doubling me and everything, some of our players, we have a bunch of freshmen who are playing well.”
Kaden Stuckey and Nicolas Burri are two freshmen to which the junior star was referring.
Stuckey fouled out late in the fourth quarter with two points, while Burri helped distribute, finishing with five points.
“They played well. Even though they were doubling me, I still made plays. I took some bad shots but it is part of the game,” Mohammed said. “I am grateful for my teammates. It was a struggle but we pulled through.”
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While the calendar has yet to roll over to January, the ambience throughout the Q paralleled a deep postseason game in early March.
Greenwood jumped out to a 14-13 lead at the end of the first, before Ozark ripped off 12 points to take the 25-21 lead to halftime.
Ozark spreads the floor and utilizes both wings, the interior and the corners with its sharpshooters, as Blaine Cline and Ethan Whatley accounted for 51 percent of the Tigers’ scoring.
“The defense we had coming in was we were going to play man-to-man and use a 2-2-1 press to slow them down. They are a fast-paced team that likes to run a lot,” Mohammed said.
In the half court, the Blue Jays switched — and switched — and switched.
Added Mohammed: “That was the plan — to switch everything. And when they threw the ball down to the big guy (AJ Elliott), we would have a man come down and try to take it away and double him.”
Ozark began to pull away in the third, extending the lead to 30-21 before the Jays cut the lead to four points with eight minutes to go, 39-35.
Mohammed split the interior defense via spin move to give the Jays the lead once more, 48-47.
A missed opportunity from the perimeter by Ozark gave the ball back to the Jays, who closed out the semifinals win with two crucial free throws by Tommy Pinegar and one by Burri.
Greenwood head coach Darren Taylor could not be reached for comment.
Scoring:
Greenwood: 14 7 14 16 — Mohammed (34), Nicolas Burri (5), Grant Harper (5), Tommy Pinegar (5), Kaden Stuckey (2).
Ozark: 13 12 14 8 — Blaine Cline (13), Ethan Whatley (11), AJ Elliott (10), Tyler Harmon (6), Owen Brockman (5), Jaylen Weston (2).
