By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Playing a team the Vikings defeated by 33 points a few weeks ago, the Parkview boys basketball team found itself trailing early in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Class 5 District 6 championship at Webb City.
But Parkview outscored the Cardinals 17-2 over the final seven minutes and then hoisted its second straight district title plaque after earning a 52-40 win.
“There wasn’t a whole lot to talk about, we celebrate these,” said Parkview coach Jack Simpson. “You don’t always get to play in these so when you do it’s a special thing and we celebrated that one. I’m just so proud of our guys.”
Parkview, 18-11, advances to face Helias Catholic (20-9) in Friday’s Class 5 quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Vikings jumped out to a 6-1 lead in what was a tight game until the final minutes and led 9-6 after a quarter of play. Webb City, which was seeded fourth, rallied to take a 13-11 lead on a basket by senior Holton Keith and held a 19-16 advantage at halftime after senior Eliott Pace knocked in two jump shots and junior Holden Johnson added a free throw in the final 90 seconds.
Parkview opened the third with a layup by senior Elias Govan and a 3-pointer by sophomore Ethan Fernandez, and the Vikings maintained a narrow lead throughout the quarter until Webb City jumped ahead 32-31 on a short basket by junior Dalton Riggs. Following a 3-pointer by Riggs from the corner with four seconds on the clock, the Cardinals went into the fourth quarter ahead 36-35.
Keith made it a 3-point game in the first minute of the fourth, but it was the last time the Cardinals would score for more than five minutes. Parkview, meanwhile, got scoring from six different players in the final eight minutes. The Vikings tied it on a 3-pointer by senior Christian Cordova, then took the lead for good on a layup by senior Dassiah Green with 4:28 remaining.
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Webb City’s final points came on a layup by junior Travien Turner that made it 44-40 with 1:47 left to play. Parkview answered with two free throws from Green 15 seconds later, and senior Carlitos Sanchez put the finishing touches on the game with a steal and layup in the final seconds.
“That’s experience,” Simpson said of the fourth-quarter rally. “We’ve been in those situations before. We’ve lost a ton of close ones this year. Those seniors out there have been playing varsity basketball for three years, that’s their third district championship game and we’ve been in situations like that and they just grinded it out.”
“Webb City did a fantastic job,” Simpson said. “Keith and Pace are fantastic basketball players. They played extremely well.”
Webb City (16-13) coach Jason Horn said his team’s focus was much sharper entering Monday’s rematch.
“Belief is a powerful weapon and our kids bought in this week and believed we were capable of winning this district,” he said. “I’m not saying the first time we played they didn’t think they could win, but we had some things not go our way early and we let it affect us. Tonight it was more of we were going to control what we could control and try to stay level headed. For almost three-and-a-half quarters we did a good job of that.”
“Offensive rebounds were big,” Horn said of Parkview’s fourth-quarter run. “We got stops, we just weren’t able to corral the rebound a couple times. When you give them second and third chances they’re too good, they’re going to make you pay. Length probably bothered us down the stretch offensively inside. We were getting to the paint, we just weren’t able to finish so you give their big guy some credit because he was walling up and even some of their forwards did a good job of that. The offensive rebounds and length were just too much for us.”
Webb City’s Keith led all scorers with 14 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Junior Trae Turner added 8 and Johnson and junior Dalton Riggs each scored 5.
For Parkview, Green and Govan each scored 12 points. Green added 6 rebounds, and Govan finished with 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. Junior Khasye Highley recorded 9 points and 7 rebounds, Fernandez had 8 points, Cordova scored 5 points and Sanchez and sophomore Eason Nash each scored 3.
The Vikings out-rebounded the Cardinals 35-19 and recorded 12 offensive boards.
“It’s what you work for all season and our guys were super resilient there,” Simpson said. “Credit Webb City, they played extremely well, especially defensively and we struggled to score, especially in the first half. Our guys just hung in there and hung in there. It sums up our team.”
