By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
You can see why Brock Blansit calls this Nixa squad the best shooting team he’s ever coached.
The record book proves it.
Nixa capped a history-making week with a Blue and Gold Championship on Thursday night, putting away Logan-Rogersville early en route to a 59-38 victory at Great Southern Bank Arena.
“When you’re making shots, it helps your defense. It makes your offense look a lot better,” Blansit said. “Making shots takes care of a lot of problems. We made a lot of shots tonight.”
Eagles junior forward Josh Peters caught fire in the first half, draining six-pointers as Nixa led by 19 at halftime of the Gold Division championship. Peters finished with a game-high of 26 points.
“They just kept leaving me open. Coaches told me to keep shooting it,” Peters said. “I have no idea why I was being left open. That’s what everyone kept saying to me.”
Peters finished the game with seven treys, one shy of the Gold Division record set by Branson’s Tate Unruh in 2008. Kickapoo’s Matt Ridder (2013) and Parkview’s JT Brown (2016) hold the overall 3-point record (9).
“To get to where I’m at, it was a lot of shooting over the summer. A lot of shooting,” Peters said. “I was in the gym a lot. To get the shots in the game, you have to move. You have to move without the ball, go off screens, everything like that.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Nixa’s head coach received some friendly heckling from his own fanbase when Peters exited the game late in the fourth quarter.
“Everybody was mouthing me on the way out,” Blansit said. “I didn’t know Peters was close to the record, obviously. When I took (Peters) out and I started getting boo’d from our own fans, I knew I made a mistake. But I didn’t think I needed to put him back in the game at that point.”
Nixa did go into the record book as a team, however.
The Eagles made 10 3-pointers against Logan-Rogersville, giving them 42 treys in the tournament. That ties the overall team 3-point record set by West Plains in 1994.
The Eagles also set the Gold Division team record for 3s, held by Ozark (39) since 2011.
“We lost a lot from last year. Everyone knows that. But I’ve been telling people: We have some kids coming up who can really shoot it,” Blansit said. “We’ve got six or seven kids who I feel confident in when they shoot the ball. That’s just what we do.”
Blansit said the Eagles weren’t looking to rewrite the record books this week.
“No, we just shoot a lot of 3s,” Blansit said. “That’s just what we do. We don’t throw it into the post a lot and look to score. We’re kicking it out for a lot of 3s. Whether we make them or miss them, we’re going to continue to shoot them. They just happened to be going in early tonight.”
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GAME
The victory gives Nixa its first Blue and Gold championship since 2014. The Eagles have now won 11 Blue and Gold titles overall, tying them with Ozark for No. 2 all-time.
Kickapoo (12) sits atop the tournament title list.
“It never gets old winning the Blue and Gold,” said Blansit, who was on two Blue and Gold Tournament-winning teams at Hillcrest during his playing career. “It’s a special tournament for our community. You could see it by the crowds tonight.”
Curry Sutherland led Logan-Rogersville with 19 points. The Wildcats fell to 10-1 overall.
After a busy first month, the Eagles will have a week off until their next game. They’ll visit Ozark on Tuesday, Jan. 10 in the Central Ozark Conference opener for both teams.
Logan-Rogersville has a break as well, returning to action on Friday, Jan. 13 at Greenwood.
Nixa 59, Logan-Rogersville 38
Logan-Rogersville 12 6 8 12 — 38
Nixa 19 18 8 14 — 59
Nixa (12-0 overall) – Josh Peters 26, Kael Combs 11, Garrett Hines 5, Corey Kemp 4, Noah Engelman 4, Carsten Seitz 3, Lane Meltabarger 2, Daniel McCoy 2, Jackson Cantwell 2
Logan-Rogersville (10-1 overall) – Curry Sutherland 19, Keegun Daniels 6, Stewart McDonald 4, Brody McNeil 3, Ross Lawrence 3, Thessen Prenger 3
