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By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Only a sophomore, Ozark’s Jace Whatley still has a long way to go in his high school career.
But he’ll always remember what he did in his first Blue and Gold Tournament.
Whatley had the game-winning putback at the buzzer as No. 2 seed Ozark defeated No. 7 seed Logan-Rogersville 46-44 on Tuesday night in the Gold Division quarterfinals at JQH Arena.
“This is my first Blue and Gold Tournament, my first buzzer-beater. It feels great, really,” Whatley said. “I’m going to go see my family, give them hugs and celebrate this moment.”
In-bounding underneath its own basket, Logan-Rogersville had a chance to win the game in the final seconds.
The Wildcats called a play for leading scorer JJ O’Neal (31 points), but his shot was rejected by Ozark 6’6” senior forward Greydon Miller.
The Tigers passed the ball up-court to senior guard Tyler Harmon on an outlet. Harmon sprinted to the other end with a lone Logan-Rogersville defender trailing behind.
Harmon’s contested layup missed, but Whatley soared in with his 6’5” frame and tipped the game-winner through as the buzzer sounded.
“I saw Tyler ahead of me. Normally at practice, Tyler’s always finishing those hard layups,” Whatley said. “He got pushed in the back and happened to miss this one. I think someone was next to me going up for that layup and I was thinking, ‘I can’t let this ball out. The ball’s going out.’ So I just jumped up and tried to finish it.
“I always do my best to get hard rebounds, dive after balls, stuff like that.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
In a physical, low-scoring game that featured 48 fouls and 44 free throw attempts, Ozark was finally on the winning side of a tight finish. Harmon led Ozark with 15 points.
“Our kids have been on the (losing) end of that moment this season. It feels good to be on the other side,” said Ozark coach Mark Schweitzer. “I can’t say enough about how well Logan-Rogersville battled and came to play. It shows what a great coach and great program they have.”
“It was very physical. The referees did the best job they could calling fouls in that one. But literally, you could call a foul all over the place. Both teams were fighting hard.”
Ozark (8-4 overall) faces conference foe Republic in the Gold Division semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night at JQH Arena. Ozark last won a Blue and Gold championship in 2016.
Ozark struggled from the start against Logan-Rogersville’s stingy matchup zone defense.
The Tigers trailed 6-4 after the first quarter and held an 18-15 lead at halftime.
“A key part of the game going how it went was our start,” Schweitzer said. “We played defense very tough and (Logan-Rogersville) could not score to start the game. Then, we’d try to run transition and throw it away or make errors. That snowballed into Logan-Rogersville’s gameplan. We’re fortunate to have won.”
The Wildcats nearly pulled off another Blue and Gold spoiler win.
From 2016-2020, the Wildcats reached the Blue and Gold semifinals. They did so as the No. 6 seed all but one season (2017, No. 3 seed).
Ozark finished 15-for-28 at the free throw on Tuesday night. Shaky free throw shooting has been a recurring issue for the Tigers this season.
“We have to get better with our free throws because it’s costing us,” Schweitzer said. “It’s cost us four games against state-ranked opponents; we should’ve won three of them, in my opinion. Free throws were a factor in all of those previous games and they were a factor again tonight. If we make our free throws, we didn’t have to sweat it out at the end.”
O’Neal scored 20 of his game-high 31 after halftime. He shot 12-for-14 at the free throw line.
Logan-Rogersville takes on Ava at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hammons Student Center in the consolation bracket.
Ozark 46, Logan-Rogersville 44
Ozark 4 14 16 12 — 46
Logan-Rogersville 6 9 16 13 — 44
Ozark – Tyler Harmon 15, Ethan Whatley 9, Jace Whatley 7, Greydon Miller 7, Jace Easley 4, Devyn Wright 4
Logan-Rogersville – JJ O’Neal 31, Ross Lawrence 7, Justin Bryant 4, Scott Metz 2
