By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Logan-Rogersville coach John Schaefer knew his basketball team was walking into a hostile environment at Seneca on Tuesday night against an Indians team that was already familiar with the Wildcats. That wasn’t the only trouble for the visitors.
“I’ve got about five kids sick and puking in the locker room before the game,” Schaefer said.
But in a rematch of last year’s sectional round, the Wildcats found a way to get the same result, and Rogersville did enough down the stretch to earn a 64-51 win.
“We were definitely not as sharp defensively and energetic like we should have been,” Schaefer said. “I don’t know if we use that as an excuse, but it definitely affected our play; our energy level was really poor. I thought they just gutted it out, to be honest. We played pretty messy and ugly at times and were just trying to get through. Luckily, made enough plays down the stretch to create some space and get out of here.”
Rogersville advances to Saturday’s Class 4 quarterfinal round where the Wildcats will get another rematch against Father Tolton Regional Catholic (18-9), which ended Rogersville’s season there a year ago.
The Wildcats (26-3) won their 14th game in a row on Tuesday, and they had won the first 13 by an average of more than 27 points. Seneca was one of those victims, falling 71-54 in February. This time, though, the Indians gave them a closer game.
Rogersville led 20-17 after a quarter and 31-25 at halftime and couldn’t find much breathing room until the final minutes. Seneca was still within five points midway through the fourth quarter, after a 3-pointer by Zane Grotjohn made it a 49-44 game.
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The Wildcats, though, responded by scoring on their next eight possessions and outscored the Indians 15-5 until the final seconds. And they did so with several different players contributing.
Scott Metz made it 51-44 with a bucket at the 3:46 mark and then Stewart McDonald pushed the lead to double digits with a layup and free throw with 2:42 remaining; Bryce Marshall made it a 12-point game with 2:22 on the clock.
A Seneca three-point play got it back to single digits, but Chase Branham made two free throws with 1:55 on the clock. Metz and McDonald each made a free throw, Marshall scored another field goal and Jase Pettifurd capped the run with a basket in the final 30 seconds that made it 64-49.
“We just tried to make some adjustments and we turned them over a couple times on the interior; our guards got loose to make some easy baskets we had to have,” Schaefer said. “And some guys made some big shots. Ross Lawrence made some shots that he’s been needing to make from 3 that kept us where we needed to be. Just really I thought we didn’t execute but that’s on them, too. I thought Seneca played super hard, flew around and made plays. We were one or two big shots from them away from maybe not getting out of here.”
Seneca dropped to 20-9 with the loss; the Indians had won 12 of 13 coming in, with the only loss against Rogersville.
“I think the game was a little closer than the final score,” Seneca coach Cort Hardy said. “They got some late ones when we were trying to trap them and went full court. That’s a really good team. They’re long, they’re athletic, they shoot the ball well, they’re smart, they’re physical. We knew coming in it was a tough matchup. Shots just weren’t really falling our way offensively but credit to those guys, they do a really good job of taking you out of what you do. You don’t want to count moral victories, but I thought our guys played hard and they left it all out there.”
The Wildcats, meanwhile, were a subdued bunch when they left the floor after the final buzzer–partially because they didn’t physically feel well. And, Schaefer said, “they knew absolutely we didn’t play well, we didn’t play our best.”
“We’ve talked about it, and we said we don’t want to ever take this for granted,” he said. “We want to be excited and stuff and so you have to remind them sometimes that hey, you guys need to be more excited, we just won a sectional. It’s not old hat to us by any means but we do have expectations and we’ve had goals all year long and they’ve got their eyes on the next one. That one’s going to be as much as we can handle.”
Chase Branham led Rogersville with 19 points and Lawrence finished in double figures with 12. McDonald scored 8 and Bryce Marshall and Jase Pettifurd each scored 4.
For Seneca, Morgan Vaughn scored 20, Grotjohn scored 11, Blake Hurn finished with 9, Noah Mittag added 7 and Gavyn Hoover scored 4.
