By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – Everyone loves a good underdog story – and that made Tuesday afternoon’s Blue & Gold Tournament quarterfinal between Hartville and Camdenton particularly interesting.
Both schools had a legitimate claim to the title.
The Eagles entered as the No. 3 seed – and were, by definition, the favorite – but the sixth-seeded Lakers were riding their best start in recent memory, and had won each of their first nine games. Camdenton is also a Class 5 school, while Hartville ranks as a perennial Class 2 title contender.
So even though Hartville was favored to win, the Eagles still considered themselves the underdog – and embraced the mentality en route to a 55-41 statement victory at Great Southern Bank Arena.
The Eagles (10-1) are searching for their third Blue Division championship in the past four seasons and will face Republic (8-1) in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the same venue.
“I know we’re seeded third this year, but generally we’re the underdog in most games against big schools,” Hartville coach Brett Reed said. “We like it and like the opportunity to go compete and see what we’re made of. These games make us better.”
Hartville won the 2019 and 2020 Blue Division titles en route to state championships, but their quest for a Blue & Gold three-peat ended with a semifinal loss to eventual tournament champion Kickapoo last December.
The Eagles fell behind early in that game and never established their signature clock-chewing tempo which has been a key component of its success in recent years.
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The Lakers scored the first five points of Tuesday’s game, briefly evoking some memories of one year ago, but the Eagles quickly responded with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from Logan Simpson, Grant Culver and Jalon Cryer to take a 9-5 lead.
Hartville never trailed by more than a point the rest of the night.
The Eagles led 15-14 at the end of the first, 28-24 at the half and 40-33 after three quarters, pulling away in the fourth with an 11-for-13 effort from the free-throw line.
“We were able, in the fourth, to get some big stops when we needed to,” Reed said. “Obviously, they had to start fouling and that kind of stretched it out a little bit toward the end.”
Cryer finished with 17 points, while Culver added nine and Simpson scored eight.
“We knew they were really big and athletic,” Cryer said. “They were going to run the floor. They’re a pretty good team. They’re going to crash hard. We just knew we had to box out and make sure we take away their transition points.”
Hartville held Camdenton to a season-low 41 points, 15 fewer than its second-lowest total, as the Eagles quickly forced the ordinarily high-tempo Lakers to play to their own preferred pace.
“Camdenton is a team that will press and likes to play fast,” Reed said. “They like to play fast. They like to get up and down. We’re more of a team that likes to stay in more of a half-court game and be disciplined, I guess. We don’t mind to play fast necessarily, but we kind of thought tonight in a fast-paced game with their quickness and athleticism that that could hurt us.”
The Lakers struggled to adjust to the slower pace, where every shot becomes exponentially more important – as it could be minutes before you get another one.
“That’s what we’ve done exceptionally well this year – the tempo part of it,” Camdenton coach Daniel Eidson said. “I don’t feel like we did it very well at all the entire game. We had a chance to cut it within five or six with a couple minutes left in the game. We just weren’t knocking any shots down. Give all the credit to them as far as being able to dictate that and really establish their dominance in that aspect. We were definitely not putting the ball in the hole.”
It was a rare lapse from a senior-heavy Camdenton team that is engineering one of the region’s most dramatic turnarounds. After winning just 11 games over the past three seasons, Camdenton was off to a 9-0 start and remains poised to compete for the school’s first district title since 2019.
Aaron Poage scored a game-high 19 to lead Camdenton, but the Lakers (9-1) fell to the consolation bracket and will face Hillcrest (5-4) at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Hammons Student Center.
“I don’t think anyone gave us any credit or any opportunity to be 8-0 going into the Blue & Gold, let alone 9-1 playing in the third round,” Eidson said. “I’m extremely proud of that. It’s my guys buying in. It’s my guys playing together. It’s something we need to obviously get a lot better at. … The key to the entire season isn’t the Blue & Gold, it’s a district championship. We need to be playing our best basketball come February/March and hopefully the process along the way gets us there.”
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For Hartville, the Blue & Gold has recently served as a bellwether for its playoff fortunes.
“Our kids get really excited to come up here and play in this tournament,” Reed said. “This tournament is a great tournament for us because it’s the type of competition that you’re probably not going to see very often in Class 2 and so it prepares us for the playoffs later on.”
The 2019-20 and 2020-21 teams used Blue & Gold victories to fuel state title runs, while last year’s comparatively inexperienced team snapped a streak of nine straight district titles after losing in the Blue & Gold semifinals.
Most of last year’s key contributors are back with another year of experience under their belt and look lightyears ahead of where they were at this time last winter.
“Individually, each of them have grown,” Reed said. “I feel like we can score it a little bit better and at a little bit higher level this year than we could last year. Again, that’s just maturity and growth. From the start of this season until this point, we’ve continued to get better on the defensive end. That’s just kept us in ball games and given us a chance to win each night.”
More often than not, it’s given the Eagles more than just a chance. It’s given them the win outright.
“We knew this wasn’t going to be a game that we were just going into thinking we could walk all over them, knowing that they could dictate the transition like we talked about,” Eidson said. “The message to the guys is trust the process. Basketball season is a grind.”
HARTVILLE 15 13 12 15 — 55
CAMDENTON 14 10 9 8 — 41
