By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Rolla Bulldogs took home a Class 5, District 9 Championship after a stunning overtime finish against the Marshfield Bluejays Friday night, 68-63.
“Wasn’t it fun?” said Rolla head coach Mark Miller. “You talk about exciting. Our guys have shown this all year, where we get in challenging situations and have a lot of adversity and they just keep battling through it all. What a great way to extend a game with our senior captain on the line making three free throws with .1 seconds to go. You couldn’t write a better script for a district championship. At that point, they weren’t going to be stopped.”
Aside from a brief back and forth in the first quarter, Marshfield led Rolla for the entire contest. That is, until the final minutes, when the Bulldogs began to creep up on the Blue Jays. With two minutes to play, Rolla senior Danny Foster connected from downtown to bring the game within 5, and senior Trey Brown did the same with one minute on the clock. After Marshfield went to the line, Foster once again scored from behind the arc to bring the game within 1.
Clutch shots at the line from Marshfield’s Blake Anderson temporarily staved off the Bulldogs, but with .1 second on the clock, Trey Brown drew a foul from the three-point line. He sunk each of his three free throws to send the game into overtime, 61-61.
“If we wanted one person on the line from our team, that’s the kid,” said Coach Miller.
Junior Ty Locklear pulled down an offensive rebound and laid it in to pull Rolla ahead in overtime. Foster added one from the charity stripe and closed the game with a lay-up.
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“Our full court pressure really helped,” said Coach Miller, the District 9 Coach of the Year, of the game’s conclusion. “We went to a run and jump in the half court, created some difficult shots for them, and also created some turnover situations. We started coming down and making some shots, which makes life a little easier.”
Miller credited his senior co-captains, Brown and Foster, for leading the way, as well as junior point guard Gage Klossner. “He had to play the whole game. He is just pesky – he gets after you and can attack the basket and finish or get it to the right guys.”
“Those are three difficult assignments for the other teams, but it’s not the only thing we’ve got,” added Miller. “We’ve played all 12 of our roster many times and this is a group that can go deep.”
In the first quarter, the teams traded shots until they tied at 7. Junior guard Peyton McBride landed a three, followed immediately by a shot from downtown from Owen Curley to put the Blue Jays in the lead.
Marshfield outscored Rolla 15-9 in the second. A Bulldog turnover and threes from Anderson and junior guard Isaac Brown propelled the Blue Jays into a 28-19 lead at the half.
Locklear added 8 of Rolla’s 12 in the third, but Peyton McBride answered with 7 of his own and the Bulldogs topped the Blue Jays by 2 in the frame. Marshfield led 42-31 going into the fourth.
The teams opened the fourth with a shootout from behind the arc, with Trey Brown and Owen Curley each connecting. Outside shooting would prove to be the ticket for the Bulldogs to bring the game within reach.
“It’s always a let-down, said Mansfield head coach Adam Carpenter. “I’ve played my whole life and got right into coaching, and I’ve never ended the season on a win because it’s really hard to do. But it always feels like this. This game was a little different because we had the game right there in our hands. There were just some big plays, and that’s the way it goes down sometimes. A lot of things didn’t go our way, and I do believe we had something to do with that – we didn’t close the game out.”
Carpenter said his team has struggled to finish games before in the season. “We are really close to being good,” he said. “We’re just figuring out how to win the game when we have the lead.” The Blue Jays close the season with a 16-11 record. “I’m really proud when I look at the whole view of how the season went,” said Carpenter.
The Bulldogs move to 15-9 on the season and take on Bolivar in sectional play Tuesday.
“The whole time I felt like we were going to get it done, and that may sound crazy, but I just had faith we were going to get it done,” said Coach Miller of his Bulldogs. “I’m so proud of these guys. They’re so much fun all the time, just a wonderful group to coach, and I’m glad they’ve had the success they’ve had. Now we’ve got more to do.”
Ten were named to the All-District Team for Class 5, District 9: Taylor Harrison, West Plains, Player of the Year; Trey Brown, Rolla; Peyton McBride, Marshfield; Danny Foster, Rolla; Zach Mings, Marshfield; Connor Lair, West Plains; Gage Klossner, Rolla; Daegen Green, West Plains; Joel Mason, Camdenton; and Antonio Glynn, Camdenton. Mark Miller, Rolla, was named Coach of the Year.
Scoring for Rolla: Danny Foster, 21; Trey Brown, 19; Ty Locklear, 14; Gage Klossner, 7; Evan Colench, 3; Adam Hounsom, 2; Patrick Blair, 2.
Scoring for Marshfield: Blake Anderson, 16; Zack Mings, 16; Peyton McBride, 12; Isaac Brown, 6; Owen Curley, 6; Landon Wilson, 5; Trey Summers, 2.
