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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – With two tournament victories and an undefeated record to its credit, Springfield Catholics’s first month of the basketball season went about as well as it could have.
The second month is off to a great start, too.
Zach Howell led all scorers with 23 points, Ty Lyon added 21 and the Fightin’ Irish posted a 58-47 victory over Marshfield in a Blue Division quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at JQH Arena.
Now 11-0, Catholic will face Nixa in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the same building.
“We’re playing well right now, but I think we’ve got a long way to go,” Fightin’ Irish coach Jack Simpson said. “I just told the guys we’ve yet to actually put together a full 32 minutes this year. We’ve had games where we put together 24 minutes or 26 or 18 – and we’ve been lucky enough to win those – but we’ve got to put together a full 32 minutes. But, so far, so good.”
Catholic’s hot start to the season includes a 10-point victory over two-time defending state champion Hartville, which ended the school’s 45-game win streak and won the Clever Invitational. Days later, the Irish went 3-0 against some of the top teams in Arkansas to win the Arvest Hoopfest. Now Catholic has a shot at its first Blue & Gold championship since 2018.
“We’re very confident right now,” Howell said. “We have eight seniors and we’ve played together since first grade. I think this year is finally the year that all the chemistries come together over those years.”
Howell, a 6-foot-5 senior who holds Division-I offers from Texas Tech and SIU-Edwardsville, led Catholic in scoring for the second consecutive game. He had 30 as the Irish cruised past Clever 73-46 in their opener Monday and now has 53 points in the first two rounds of the tournament.
Lyon, a St. Mary’s basketball commit, and Liam O’Reilly, who will play football at Missouri State, give Catholic a three-headed attack that has vaulted Catholic to No. 5 in the Class 5 rankings.
“We have three guys that can really get going,” Simpson said. “Sometimes one’s hot and the other’s not and as a coach, that’s super nice to have. They just played their games.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Marshfield held O’Reilly to just two points a day after he had 11, but Lyon and Howell provided more than enough to make up the difference. The duo combined to score all but five of Catholic’s first-half points as the Fightin’ Irish took a 29-18 advantage into the break.
It was more of the same to open the second half, as Lyon and Howell combined for 14 of Catholic’s 19 third-quarter points as the lead ballooned to 48-30. That was more than enough to withstand Marshfield’s fourth-quarter rally in which six different players got on the scoreboard.
“I thought our guys played hard for about 24 minutes and then (instead of) keeping our foot on the gas, we just lifted our foot off a little bit there in the fourth quarter,” Simpson said. “Marshfield is a good team, but to beat really, really good teams you have to play 32 minutes.”
Catholic will have a chance to do that tomorrow, as the Irish face an undefeated Nixa team that holds the division’s top seed and is currently ranked third in the state among Class 6 schools.
“They’re just a solid team,” Howell said. “They have seven or eight guys that really contribute. We just have to stay together as a whole group.”
Peyton McBride had 19 points for Marshfield, which upset Skyline in the first round but fell to 5-5. The Blue Jays will face Fair Grove in a consolation game at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hammons Student Center and could finish in fifth place by winning twice more.
“As a group, I feel like yesterday was the first game where we played close to 32 minutes of a style we’ve been working toward,” Marshfield coach Adam Carpenter said. “That was a great win and we knew coming in today we were going to have our hands full. Catholic is a great team and being able to put yourself in position to compete with people like that, the more prepared you are at the end of the season. Very happy with how our guys competed today.”
Catholic’s win also gave the Fightin’ Irish a leg up in the race for top seed in the Class 5 District 5 playoffs, as both schools share a district.
“It’s huge,” Simpson said. “I told the guys before the game this was more than just a Blue & Gold game. This is a district game. If we want to be a No. 1 seed – which is our goal to be the No. 1 seed in our district – we have to beat district opponents. We don’t play them all, so we can kind of tip our hat on the games that we do win against district opponents. Hopefully when February and March roll around, that’ll go a long way in the seeding process.”
Marshfield will have a near-immediate shot at redemption, as the Blue Jays visit Catholic for a regularly scheduled Big 8 East conference game on January 4.
They’ve already identified at least one area to address.
“We had six turnovers in the first half and they scored on five of the six,” Carpenter said. “You’re going to turn the ball over some, especially against physical athletes and especially if you’re trying to work 30 seconds, 40 seconds trying to get a layup. But you cut those turnovers in half and that’s minus six (points) on their end. Then it’s a close game at halftime. In order for us to reach a higher level, we’re going to have to take care of the ball better and execute better.”
