By Denise Tucker (For OzarkssportsZone.com)
PLEASANT HOPE – Just two seasons removed from a one-win campaign, the Ash Grove Pirates captured their 21st victory of the season and first outright conference championship since 1985 with a 73-36 win over Pleasant Hope on Tuesday night.
Ash Grove, which improved to 21-3 overall and 8-0 in the Southwest Conference, did finish as co-champions of the Mid-Lakes Conference during the 2004-05 season, and as tri-champs in 2006-07, but Tuesday night was the first time in 37 years the Pirates could claim a conference title as their own.
“It’s all our guys,” said Ash Grove’s third-year coach Grant Williamson. “They’ve done an excellent job all season of just competing. They set a goal at the start of the year to try and win this conference and it was something we felt like we could do. They did everything they needed to; they executed in games, they worked hard in practice, and so it feels really good.
“I know I’m incredibly proud of this group to be able to bring that back for the first time in 37 years, an outright championship, so definitely really excited and happy for our guys.”
To put into perspective of what happened the year the Ash Grove boys’ team last won an outright conference title as a member of the Greene County League, here is a sampling: the Kansas City Royals defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the I-70 World Series; Villanova upset Georgetown for the NCAA Tournament title, the San Francisco 49ers beat Miami to win Super Bowl XIX, Anthony DaCosta led Christ the King to the first Tournament of Champions title in Hammons Student Center; and Williamson’s father Sean, who coached boys’ basketball at Conway, Willard and Glendale high schools, was a junior at Nixa High School competing against that 1985 Ash Grove squad.
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“It means a lot, especially since the past three years haven’t been the greatest,” said Ash Grove senior Sam Moreland, who led all scorers with 23 points. “This last one’s been pretty awesome, and we’ve succeeded quite a bit this year.”
Tuesday night’s win was the 11th straight for Ash Grove, which was coming off back-to-back overtime games. The Pirates’ only three losses have come to Fair Grove and Skyline in the Blue Division of the Blue and Gold Tournament, and Morrisville on Jan. 7.
The GCL disbanded after the 1992-93 season and Ash Grove was without a conference home for 12 years before joining the Mid-Lakes Conference in 2004-05. The Pirates have been members of the Southwest Conference since 2018.
Sophomore Brady Nicholson, a fourth-generation Nicholson to play basketball for Ash Grove (his father, grandfather, grandmother, great-aunts and great-grandfather all played for the Pirates), also was happy to end the drought.
“Oh, it feels awesome that we got it done with all these wins,” said Nicholson, who added 20 points and eight assists. “The past years we’ve been losing, obviously, and it feels awesome to everybody in Ash Grove that we’re winning finally, and we got it done tonight and closed it out.”
The red-and-black Pirates got off to a slow start against Pleasant Hope (7-15, 1-5), but blew the game open by outscoring the yellow-and-black Pirates 50-19 over the second and third quarters.
“We came out a little flat; maybe a little bit of the excitement from last week wearing off and, you know, the magnitude of what we knew was on the line tonight,” Williamson said. “But they finally settled in in the second quarter and started to execute. And I thought everybody did a great job; all the guys.”
Ash Grove currently is ranked No. 9 in Class 3 and has one more regular-season game against Buffalo on Thursday before districts start next week. The top-seeded Pirates want to keep the winning ship sailing.
“Hopefully, we can take care of business on Thursday and then go into districts with a 12-game run,” said Moreland, who eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark back in December. “And then we can hopefully have a district run and final four run, maybe.”
“One of our guys said it earlier today, which is they just want to keep winning as many games as possible,” Williamson said. “So, when the mindset is like that from your guys, it’s pretty easy to just try and focus on the next one and try and win Thursday and then get dialed in to go try and win a district championship (the first since 2014.)”
But in the meantime, the Pirates are happy to bring a conference title home to Ash Grove.
“The community’s been super-involved with this group; they love their basketball at Ash Grove,” Williamson said. “It’s just as much their conference championship as it is our guys’ and our team. There’s a lot of pride and a lot of community members for our program, and to be able to do that is special for everybody.”
ASH GROVE 73, PLEASANT HOPE 36
Southwest Conference game
ASH GROVE 19-21-29-4—73
PLEASANT HOPE 11-12-7-6—36
ASH GROVE (21-3, 8-0) – Sam Moreland 23, Brock Mooneyham 7, Nate Trammell 6, Zane Delk 2, Brady Nicholson 20, Elijah Morrison 4, Tyler Tummons 6, Bryce Davis 3, Cooper Burks 2.
PLEASANT HOPE (7-15, 1-5) – Adrian Sherrer 1, Ryver Labee 9, Ryder Labee 6, Tanner Hillenburg 14, Connor Shuler 4, Dayton Altic 2.
Ash Grove B 57, Pleasant Hope B 27
