By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
BOLIVAR – Josh Bowes almost didn’t have the chance to team up with Kyle Pock and Luke Gabani to give Bolivar triple towers.
Well before Bowes emerged as a star in Bolivar’s 60-47 Class 5 Quarterfinal win over Nevada on Friday, the 6-foot-5 junior forward had to take care of business off the court.
Going back to Bowes’ freshman season, his playing days were in jeopardy of coming to an end.
“His Dad, Skip, is a genius and they’re a genius family,” Bolivar coach Robby Hoegh said. “Josh is a straight-A student. But one day Skip told me, ‘Coach, we have a problem. Josh just got a B-plus. If he doesn’t get that up he’s done.’ I went, ‘Skip, you’re killing me. I’m not from the same gene pool as you guys. My parents were elated if I got a B-plus.'”
“Believe it or not, he was (serious),” Josh said. “It was a little scary. I get a lot of pressure from my Dad to get good grades. I got it up (to an A) real quick. There are a lot of late nights. But moments like this make it worth it.”
Bowes used his smarts to help Bolivar break away a bit from Nevada in the third quarter. Bowes scored the Liberators’ first 12 points of the second half, as Bolivar turned a 22-20 halftime lead into a 38-33 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
Bowes finished with a team-high 18 points.
“How was he getting those shots? He was sealing people out and we were throwing it over the top to him,” Hoegh said. “It takes a high IQ to understand what the defense on the back line is doing.”
“I had a good quarter,” Bowes said.
Bowes, who had 26 points in the Sectional round against Rolla, is thriving on offensive boards.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“I’ve found something I enjoy doing and that’s hustling and getting rebounds,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working on other parts of my game. But for now I’m going to keep cutting to the basket and get rebounds. That’s what I’m good at.”
Bowes had room to maneuver in the paint, as Nevada concentrated on Pock.
“I know if they face-guard me, I’ve done my job already,” Pock said. “I don’t have to score for us to win. If I can pull gravity to me, we can pound it down low. Josh was phenomenal. When I can’t get going or Gabani can’t get going, Josh is the guy. He’s coming up big in this post-season. He’s rebounding and posting the crap out of people to get easy layups.”
“You’ll see openings on the court when that happens,” Bowes said of opponents employing gimmick defenses versus Pock. “When they started guarding me, then Gabani got things going. It worked out well.”
“Kyle gets like four guys guarding him every game and he handles all that with grace and poise,” Hoegh said. “He is circling the wagons for everything. He’s orchestrating a lot. He’s the gravity that allows for these one-on-one matchups. We feel we can win those one-on-one matchups with Gabani or Bowes.”
Pock netted 17 points. He helped Bolivar put the game away from the free-throw line. The Liberators hit nine free throws in a row during one stretch and made 13-of-17 from the foul line over the final two minutes.
Logan Applewhite kept Nevada in the game by scoring 27 points. He had four 3-pointers. But he would have liked to close better. He missed five of his last six 3-point attempts.
“Shots weren’t falling,” Applegate said. “My shot felt good. But I had a lot of in-and-outs. It just wasn’t my day.”
Applegate enjoyed playing in front of the packed house and expressed his thanks for how Nevada supported the Tigers during their historic season. This was the furthest Nevada has been in the playoffs since 1991.
“The crowd tonight was insane,” Applegate said. :”They fed off of it well. Our crowd was good, too.
“This was definitely a memory for life,” he added. “This has been the best four years of my life. I love this team. We came a long way. It’s felt like we’ve had the whole city behind our back. Everywhere we’ve gone, it’s been high-fives and congratulations. It’s been quite a ride.”
The Liberators were thrilled to play at home with a State berth on the line.
“We live in a great community and we packed this place,” Pock said. “It was a special night.”
“What a unique opportunity, Quarterfinals at your own house with a packed gym,” Hoegh said. “It was wonderful.”
Hoegh added the Liberators didn’t take Nevada lightly, after the Tigers upset Rogersville.
“When you get to this point, you don’t care who you’re playing. You’re going to lace them up and go,” Hoegh said. “The teams that do well now are the teams that keep it as simple as possible and that’s essentially what we did. We knew we had to take care of the ball, we had to rebound and we had to pound the ball into the paint.”
Bolivar moves on to the Final Four next week.
“We weren’t expecting this,’ Bowes said. “At the beginning of the year, it was looking rocky for us. But we figured things out and made some serious progress. It’s great to see all our hard work paying off and we’re excited to see where we’re going to take it.”
“We want to go all the way,” Pock said. “We’re not satisfied.”
Bolivar 60, Nevada 47
NEVADA (47) – Logan McNeley 2 0-0 5, Lane McNeley 2 0-2 5, Applegate 9 5-6 27, Nines 5 0-0 10.
BOLIVAR (60) — Pock 5 7-9 17, Cribbs 1 6-6 9, Gabani 4 3-5 12, Krueger 2 0-0 4, Boes 8 2-2 18.
Nevada 11 9 11 16 – 47
Bolivar 14 8 16 22 – 60
3-point goals – Applegate 4, Logan McNeley 1, Lane McNeley 1.
