By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
MORRISVILLE — With several key contributors returning from last year’s 19-win team, Seymour always saw itself as a group that could compete for a holiday tournament title – or even a bigger one.
But after suffering three losses in their first six games, the Tigers knew something had to change.
“We did not start off the season well at all,” Seymour coach Chris Hastings said. “We had high expectations coming into this season and for whatever reason we did not play well whatsoever.”
So the Tigers held what Hastings called a “Come-to-Jesus meeting” during a mid-December practice, shortly after they lost to the Southern Missouri RUSH and Hollister in the span of a week.
“We had some bad team play,” Hastings recalled. “Individually, we were really good. But we just had to come together as a team. Ever since then, they know that they have each other’s backs. We established roles in that meeting and ever since then, they’ve been executing flawlessly.”
Simply put, they’ve played like champions. And as of Thursday night, they officially are.
The Tigers secured the Morris Brothers Holiday Classic title with a hard-fought 48-44 win over the Southern Missouri RUSH in the championship game at Marion C. Early High School, which is holding the boys side of the tournament as host Walnut Grove’s gym undergoes renovations.
“It feels amazing,” said Seymour senior Chade Noble, who was named tournament MVP after a 20-point outing in the final. “I can definitely tell – and a lot of people can tell – that we’ve definitely improved over the past few games.”
The victory over the third-seeded RUSH was Seymour’s second consecutive upset of a team they had lost to in recent weeks. The fifth-seeded Tigers knocked out top-seeded Hollister, the defending champion, in the semifinals.
“For us to get redemption on both those teams, it makes it extra special,” Hastings said.
It was also Seymour’s third straight upset in the tournament, as they beat No. 4 Lamar in the quarterfinals.
The Tigers are now 5-0 since the pivotal meeting, including a six-point victory over Hartville in their final game before the tournament. Seymour (8-3) was the only team to beat the Eagles until Republic pulled out an overtime victory in a Blue & Gold semifinal on Wednesday.
“Seeing Hartville take Republic down to the wire, that lets us know that we can hang with anybody” Hastings said. “But we have to be locked and ready to go – and they were tonight.”
Hastings emphasized the importance of getting off to a fast start against RUSH, a team consisting of homeschool students who predominantly live in the Nixa and Ozark areas.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
But even he was surprised as the Tigers won the tip and got the ball to senior Dylan Henry, who threw down an emphatic, highlight-reel dunk just five seconds into the game.
That set the tone and touched off a 16-2 run that stretched into the second quarter.
“I did not expect that,” Hastings said. “RUSH, actually, the games that we’ve watched them and the games that they’ve played against us, they typically get off to a fast start. So it was an emphasis in the pregame to get off to a fast start, but no, we did not expect to get off to the start that we did. Defensively, we were locked in. I’m just really proud of how they handled themselves tonight.”
RUSH didn’t go quietly, rallying to cut the deficit in half before halftime and tie the game at 32 entering the fourth. Joseph Graves, a 6-foot-6 junior, scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the third quarter while putting on a clinic in the post.
“He’s a stud,” RUSH coach Greg Ray said. “He’s one of those best-kept secrets in southwest Missouri, I believe. I think he’s one of the – if not the – best true post players in the area and he has the ability to change a game. Seymour did a great job early taking that away from us, but in the third quarter he got some space and got going and put us on his back for a little bit. That was critical for getting us jump-started.”
Tanner Engel (14 points) hit a pair of free-throws to give RUSH a 34-32 lead a minute into the fourth quarter, but falling behind appeared to give the Tigers their own shot of energy.
Noble scored five consecutive points for the Tigers, including a three-point play that gave them a 37-34 lead with 5:52 to go. Seymour never trailed the rest of the night.
Henry finished with 16 points, while Seymour’s supporting cast played their roles to perfection — which has been so critical to the team’s resurgence.
“Chade is going to be our scorer, our passer, our leader, our coach on the floor,” Hastings said. “He’s our point guard. And then we have Kason (Richards), who is the point guy in our zone. He’s probably the smartest player on our team. Dylan handles everything down low and then we have two shooters spacing the floor. Once we kind of honed in on ‘This is your role, this is how you can make us better,’ it’s turned us around.”
RUSH, which scored a 16-point victory over a previously undefeated Marionville team to reach the championship game, fell to 12-5 in its schedule – which consists of a mixture of games against MSHSAA opponents and fellow homeschool teams.
“We have a handful of these players that — had they been getting some of the publicity and that shine as the public school teams get — they would be household names on this team,” Ray said. “I think there’s a stigma that goes along with homeschool sports or homeschool basketball and I think these guys break the mold. I think if somebody had heard they were playing a homeschool team and they showed up and saw these guys play, they would walk away – I hope – really impressed.”
Place the tournament champions on that list, too.
“We spoke very highly of RUSH coming into it,” Hastings said. “We knew that the top four teams, any one of those teams could have won this tournament. Kudos to the RUSH team. They played extremely well. I’m just happy that our boys came away with the win.”
SEYMOUR 11 15 6 16 — 48
RUSH 2 16 14 12 — 44
