By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – For just the third time in Blue & Gold Tournament history, Fair Grove is headed to the semifinals.
Jaxon Rowden led all scorers with 14 points and the Eagles used a stellar fourth-quarter defensive effort to upset Parkview, 48-33, in a Gold Division quarterfinal on Tuesday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
The fifth-seeded Eagles (9-2) held the fourth-seeded Vikings (3-6) to just five points during the final frame, turning what had been a three-point lead after three quarters into a historic victory.
Fair Grove will face top-seeded Nixa (10-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Great Southern Bank Arena for a chance to advance to its first Blue & Gold Championship game in school history.
Making their 26th appearance in the 77-year-old tournament, the Eagles have already advanced farther than all but two of their predecessors. Fair Grove has one third-place and one fourth-place finish to its credit, and Tuesday’s win assured another top-four finish.
“It means the world,” Rowden said. “I mean, I don’t think very many people even looked at us coming into this. I know they had some Crane upsets, even. To go out there and compete our butts off, play great defense and get the win – going on, moving on – we’re just looking forward to the next day.”
The Eagles cruised past Crane with a 24-point victory in their first-round matchup on Monday, but Tuesday’s quarterfinal was a lot closer than the final score indicated.
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Fair Grove closed out the first half with a 24-18 advantage – which was at that point the largest held by either team – but the Vikings opened the second half with an 8-0 run to go back on top.
But Bryden Baxter (10 points) hit a 3-pointer to give Fair Grove the lead again, and the Eagles never surrendered it.
Baxter’s shot touched off a 22-4 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters, as Fair Grove turned in defensive stop after defensive stop to punch its ticket to the tournament semifinals.
“Our kids just really responded and didn’t tuck their heads,” Fair Grove coach Bryan Tucker said. “They just fought and they battled and they came back.”
Parkview’s run was one that had the potential to dramatically change the course of the game, had the Eagles not found a way to right the ship. Fortunately – or perhaps unfortunately – Fair Grove has found itself in similar situations in multiple recent outings.
“We’re in this position, it seems like, every game right now,” Tucker said. “We’re having trouble starting the third quarter. We’ll have a lead at halftime and then we’ll give teams an opportunity to make a small run in the third quarter and then, you know, we respond. I guess in some ways, we’ve been in that situation before. I would like to start the third quarter – and certainly that’s something we talked about at halftime – but we just didn’t execute coming out of the half. We turned it over and we just didn’t get good shots for us. And their defense had a lot to do with that.”
Parkview found itself in some early foul trouble, forcing some adjustments at the start of the second half. That gave the team a much-needed energy boost, but one it could not sustain.
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“For about those three minutes to start the second half, I thought our energy level was better,” Parkview coach Jack Simpson said. “And then, once again, we thought ‘OK, we have a lead now and now we’re going to pull away.’ And we relaxed and they made us pay. That’s a reflection of their team and their group. They’re a good basketball team.”
Elias Govan scored a team-high 10 points as Parkview fell to 3-6 in Simpson’s first season since coming over from Springfield Catholic, who he led to a runner-up finish in the Blue Division of last year’s tournament.
Four of those losses have been by three points or fewer, but this one was a noticeable outlier. It dropped the Vikings to the consolation bracket, and they will face Marshfield (5-6) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Hammons Student Center.
“I thought they played better than we did,” Simpson said. “I told the guys for about 24 of the 32 minutes, I thought they played harder than we did. And you have to credit them. They ran their stuff. They got the looks they wanted. And they just outplayed us. That’s a reflection of me, reflection of the guys – but it’s a credit to them, too. They’re well-coached and they played hard.”
Tucker credited Rowden with setting the tone throughout the game.
“I love our team,” Tucker said. “It starts at the top with Jaxon Rowden. Great senior. Great leader. Always keeps our guys together. He’s the only senior we have on this team and I just love his leadership. I love the way he competes on every single possession. And then obviously, we’re pretty young. We started three sophomores tonight. We’ve got a junior starting. But, more than anything, it starts with Jaxon. I’m just so proud of him.”
Beyond Rowden, the Eagles have a by-committee approach with a rotating cast stepping up to make key contributions on a nightly basis.
Tucker credited sophomores Nolen Geitz, Spensar Seiger and Baxter with delivering on Tuesday.
Seigar finished with 10 points – including a perfect 8-for-8 effort on free-throws – to give the Eagles three players in double figures. The Eagles also went 18-for-22 from the line as a team.
Baxter hit the clutch 3-pointer to end Parkview’s run. With junior Tyler Barnett in foul trouble, Geitz assumed some of his defensive responsibilities – and made the most of the opportunity.
“He did a tremendous job defensively,” Tucker said. “Rebounding, loose balls. And then Spensar and Bryden, they have to bring it every game offensively – and they do.”
Thanks to the team’s defense, they’ll now have a chance to bring it in the semifinals.
“All good defense leads to good offense,” Rowden said. “Our defensive end was what won us the game tonight. Going down and hitting shots on offense came from our defense.”
FAIR GROVE 11 13 7 17 — 48
PARKVIEW 11 7 10 5 — 33
