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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
STRAFFORD – In a battle of Class 3 state-ranked teams and Mid-Lakes Conference unbeatens, the Skyline Tigers pulled away for a 65-52 conference victory over Strafford on the Indians’ Homecoming night Friday.
After Strafford had taken a 15-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, Skyline opened up the second on an 8-0 run, capped by five straight points from Lawson Beem, to go up 22-15 at the 4:17 mark. The Tigers led by as many as six before the Indians went on a run of their own, getting two free throws from J.D. Hunt to tie it up at 27.
It appeared the game would be tied heading into halftime. But with a few ticks left on the clock and the length of the floor to go, the Tigers inbounded the ball to Beem who sank a three-quarter-court shot to give Skyline the momentum and a 30-27 lead heading into the locker room.
“It was big,” Skyline coach Tommy Egan said of Beem’s shot. “Our kids were fired up. That’s the type of deal where, just a few seconds before, we felt like we made a dumb play, and (Strafford) got the momentum. So, it was huge just for our kids for their confidence standpoint.
“We’ve got the utmost respect for Coach (Tyler) Ryerson and his kids. They’re so well-coached and their kids are very talented, and they do a great job playing as a team. But, we needed this. Our closest win coming in tonight is 19. We’re 0-3 in close games. We haven’t won a game where we’ve been challenged for four quarters, and we really needed this for our confidence. With the playoffs just a little over a week away, this was huge for us for our confidence, and just for our season.”
That confidence and momentum carried over into the third quarter as Skyline used a 10-0 run to open up a 13-point lead (40-27) on Strafford. The Tigers held a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, but the Indians battled back using a 7-0 run to pull with six (51-45).
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Skyline broke the ice on a basket by Kourt Cheek before Vance Mullins answered with a 3-pointer from the wing to pull Strafford within five (53-48). But that’s as close as the Indians would get.
Zack Williams scored underneath and the Tigers began to work the ball and run some clock, forcing Strafford to foul. Skyline got the ball into Beem’s hands and the point guard hit 8 of 8 from the free-throw line to help the eighth-ranked Tigers improve to 20-3 overall and 4-0 in the MLC.
“I kind of like pressure, and I like to shoot the free throws at the end, so I kind of went and had to go get it,” Beem said. “Coming in tonight, I know a lot of people from Stratford, so I really look forward to playing them. They’re a really good program. We haven’t come here and won in a long time so it feels good.”
The win keeps the Tigers undefeated in league play with one to go next Friday at Clever.
“They gave us all we wanted last year on our home floor, and now we’ve got to go to their place,” Egan said. “I’m sure they’re hungry for us, and that’s another team that’s going to be well-coached. So, we’re not done yet. We know we’re going to have another tough one next Friday, but obviously tonight was really huge.”
Ryerson said Skyline’s defense had a lot to do with his team’s struggles Friday night.
“Our offense got pretty stagnant and that’s part of the reason,” Ryerson said. “Tommy (Egan) does a great job and Skyline really guards well. It was just a struggle to score for a little stretch. We didn’t shoot very well, we didn’t attack the rim, but again, that has a lot to do with Skyline’s defense.
“We had opportunities. We just couldn’t get stops. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds, and then offensively, we just weren’t great tonight.”
The seventh-ranked Indians, who fell to 19-5, 2-1, have two league games left – both on the road – at Forsyth (Feb. 16) and at Fair Grove (Feb. 19).
“When I watch film of this game, I think there’s going to be more important things to fix than us trying to get to a conference championship,” Ryerson said. “An outside chance, it would be awesome, but that’s a really good team over there.
“We’re going to have to guard a little bit better than we did today. Forsyth can really get to the rim.
We’re going to have to play offense a little bit more fluid than tonight. We got stagnant at times and didn’t move the ball like we normally do.”
And the Tigers, who finished second in Class 2 last year, will look to keep the momentum rolling.
“We’ve talked about it; these kids have a lot big-game experience,” Egan said. “And that’s something we’ve really tried hammering into their head is, ‘You guys have big-game experience. You’ve won on these stages – know that at the end of the day.’
“I thought our kids, in the tight moments, they kind of harkened back to that and they had confidence in themselves because they know they’ve been there before.”
SKYLINE 65, STRAFFORD 52
Mid-Lakes Conference game
SKYLINE 14-16-16-19—65
STRAFFORD 15-12-11-14—52
SKYLINE (20-3, 4-0) – Zack Williams 6, Kourt Cheek 11, Bradyn Porter 18, Jaytin DeFreece 2, Lawson Beem 28.
STRAFFORD (19-5, 2-1) – Vance Mullins 13, A.K. Rael 22, Logan Fraker 2, Seth Soden 9, Teagan Lawler 2, J.D. Hunt 4.
Strafford B 48, Skyline B 34
