By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
On the third day of a grueling four-day tournament, the Nixa Eagles stepped up with their best defensive performance of the young season.
Nixa limited Fair Grove to only two points in the second quarter, then made its free throws down the stretch to prevail 45-39 in the Blue Division semifinals on Thursday night at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.
“With the Blue and Gold, you don’t have a lot of preparation time. It’s a 24-hour turnaround,” said Nixa coach Brock Blanist. “Our guys did a great job of defending tonight. That’s as good of defense as we’ve played all year.”
Nixa got a big boost from its bench as reserve Keivon Flint led the team with 12 points. He scored 10 in the second half.
Flint is one of the early standouts on a productive bench unit.
“He really stepped up tonight and was awesome for us,” Blansit said. “He made some big free throws for us and defended extremely well.
“We just try to tell our guys, ‘When your number’s called, you better be ready to go out and produce. The more you produce, the more you play.”
Nixa moves on to Friday’s Blue Division title game, where they’ll meet conference foe Republic. It’s a matchup of two teams who won Blue and Gold titles a year ago.
Nixa will be seeking its 12th tournament championship all-time. The Eagles are currently tied with Ozark for the second-most titles of any school.
Kickapoo (13) sits atop the list.
“We have a young team, but this will be a great experience for them,” Blansit said. “We’re excited for it.”
Advancing to Friday’s title game was far from easy. For the second year in a row, Nixa met a Fair Grove squad that dictated the pace and tried to emphasize a half-court game.
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“They’re good at what they do,” Blansit said. “I told our guys coming into this game that it’s probably going to be in the 40s, and that’s pretty much what it was.”
Nixa led 16-12 at halftime, then by four entering the fourth quarter.
A resilient Fair Grove squad only trailed 36-33 with 1:24 remaining. But the purple Eagles were never able to overtake the red Eagles, thanks in part to Nixa’s free throw shooting.
Nixa finished 15-for-18 at the free throw line overall, most of which came in the second half.
“(Free throws) are something we’ve kind of struggled with,” Blansit said. “Our guys really stepped up and made a bunch of big free throws to put the game away.”
Josh Peters and Devon Kemp each scored nine for Nixa.
Tyler Barnett, a 6’7” senior, led Fair Grove with 16 points.
Fair Grove (7-3 overall) will play Willard in the Blue Division 3rd place game at 5:30 p.m.
Nixa 45, Fair Grove 39
Fair Grove 10 2 16 11 — 39
Nixa 10 6 16 13 — 45
Fair Grove (7-3 overall) – Tyler Barnett 16, Bryden Baxter 6, Spensar Seiger 5, Kyle Winterberg 5, Gavin Thomason 4, Brock Boatwright 3
Nixa (8-3 overall) – Keivon Flint 12, Josh Peters 9, Devon Kemp 9, Adam McKnight 8, Garrett Hines 4, Jackson Cantwell 3
