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By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
BOLIVAR – The Thayer Bobcats are making their first final four appearance in eight years, thanks to a clutch 3-pointer by senior Gaige Pitts.
Thayer led 52-49 against Strafford with 25.1 seconds remaining in the game. Strafford’s AK Rael faked the defender and knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 52 with nine seconds to go.
Strafford put on a full-court press, but the Bobcats got the ball to Pitts, who calmly stepped up and answered with a 3 of his own to give his team the lead back (55-52) with one second left.
The Indians got a shot off at the buzzer, but it fell short, and Thayer grabbed a 55-52 Class 3 quarterfinal victory on Saturday night at Southwest Baptist University.
“We had been in some games all year where, at half, we were down; that wasn’t new to us,” Thayer coach Matt Pitts said. “But playing somebody like that (Strafford), there’s a little difference in coming back against everybody else and somebody like that.
“I thought our sense of urgency defensively got better, we rebounded it better, we made plays. And, as far as that last sequence goes… you’re on such a high and Rael makes that 3 and now you go right back down here. We get it in, Gaige catches it, and he makes it. You can’t make a bigger play than he made. That was huge, but a lot of them made big plays, man.”
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And now, the Bobcats advance to their first final four since 2014.
“In 2014, Dad (coach Matt Pitts) was still coaching, and I was over there on the sideline,” Gaige Pitts said. “We went to the final four on a game-winner that year, too. So, it doesn’t get any better. It was awesome. You can’t go with any more adrenaline any higher than that. I just love it for the community, love it for our guys.”
Strafford, who was riding a 15-game winning streak, started hot with senior Seth Soden scoring his team’s first nine points on three 3-pointers and the Indians raced to a 16-7 first-quarter lead.
Soden would hit two more 3s early in the second quarter and a turnaround jumper for 17 first-half points. But Thayer made Soden a point of emphasis and held him scoreless in the second half.
“Well, we were supposed to hold him scoreless in the first half,” Coach Pitts joked. “He’s a great player and a great shooter and you can’t leave him. We gave him too much space, and that kind of goes back to that sense of urgency we talked about. You’ve got to know when a guy’s out there like that. We talked about him for three days and he gets to make five 3s, I think, in the first half, and you can’t do that. We just got lucky enough and made the last one.”
The Bobcats, who improved to 28-1, were led by Jordan Andrews’ 21 points and Gaige Pitts’ 20.
Soden paced the Indians with 17, while Rael added 16.
“There was a lot more attention on Seth,” Strafford coach Tyler Ryerson said of Thayer’s defense on Soden. “As far as the game starting out, this has kind of been our blueprint a little bit during this 15-game winning streak. And the way we felt, Thayer had pressure on them, and we really didn’t. Thayer’s the prohibitive No. 1 team in the state. They’ve been a No. 1 team for most of the weeks that poll’s come out. We just felt like if we could kind of punch him in the mouth early it’d be good for us, and we did that.
“Gaige Pitts made a great shot. I mean, I’m not sure we could have played better defense on him. It was a hand in his face, and he made a shot and you kind of got to live with those. But you know, I’m proud of our kids. They really could’ve easily back down multiple times in the third when Thayer was making their run. They could’ve backed down in the fourth multiple times, but they didn’t. They kept clawing, they kept fighting. (Thayer) just made some shots.”
THAYER 55, STRAFFORD 52
Class 3 quarterfinal game
THAYER 7-16-17-15—55
STRAFFORD 16-13-10-13—52
STRAFFORD (21-9) – Logan Fraker 3, Seth Soden 17, Avery Voysey 8, Teagan Lawler 2, AK Rael 16, Cody Voysey 6.
THAYER (28-1) – Jordan Andrews 21, Gaige Pitts 20, Landry Pitts 4, Aidan Burns 7, Keaton Nicholson 3.
Up next: Class 3 semifinals – Thayer vs. Lafayette County, 6 p.m., March 10 at JQH Arena, Missouri State University
