By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPARTA – It didn’t take long for the Greenwood Bluejays to secure their first district championship since 2021.
In just over an hour Saturday night, the third-seeded Bluejays defeated the No. 1-seeded Fair Grove Eagles 43-36 for the Class 3 District 11 championship – their first district title since 2021, before eventually falling to Hollister in the quarterfinal round that year.
“It feels really good,” longtime Greenwood head coach Darren Taylor said of the title. “Some of these guys are having to play up a class because of the (MSHSAA) championship factor. It’s tough for a school our size to get there, but these guys showed a lot of resilience this year. I think they just really believe in themselves.”
And the Bluejays got it done in a bit of a throwback kind of way, playing a 3-2 zone, slowing things down and taking the Eagles out of their game.
“We’ve got a little bit of size on that back end and it kind of pushes things a little bit farther,” Taylor said. “They did a nice job executing what we tried to do tonight.”
The Greenwood zone wasn’t just the game plan against Fair Grove, said junior Collin Clark, who led all scorers with 17 points. It’s typically what they’ve played all season.
“We knew that they were more of a man offense,” Clark said of Fair Grove. “They play better against man (defense). And especially with our size and our length, I feel like we did a good job of covering the lane and getting out on shooters. They have great shooters, so we knew if we got out on shooters today, then we would probably come out with a win, and that’s what we did.”
The game was tied at 12 after the first quarter and tightly contested in the second. The first basket didn’t come until almost five minutes in, and that was a jumper in the lane by Clark to put the Bluejays up 14-12. Garrett Winslow hit a couple of free throws (16-12) before Fair Grove got its first bucket – a 3-pointer by Spensar Seiger to pull it to 16-15. Greenwood answered with a Tyler Harrell-to-Logan Sanders fast break basket to give the Bluejays an 18-15 advantage going into halftime.
The Eagles got within one point a couple of times in the third quarter. But an 8-0 Greenwood run to end the third and open the fourth gave the Bluejays their biggest lead of the night (32-22). Fair Grove chipped away, but Greenwood, which trailed only once during the game, kept the Eagles at bay to claim the district championship.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“They did a great job with their zone; they really packed it in,” Fair Grove coach Bryan Tucker said. “They didn’t allow us to get in the driving lanes and forced us to make jump shots and we didn’t do that. We were pretty passive and then, offensively for them, I thought they were extremely patient. I thought they took a lot of really good shots, made it difficult for us to guard and really hit some timely baskets.
“I thought Collin (Clark) hit some really big shots late. I thought we put him in a position to take some tough shots and he made them. Sometimes, you’ve just got to tip your cap and our game plan was to let certain guys shoot and those guys shot it, and they made it tonight. That’s just the way it rolls sometimes.”
The Eagles will return all but two players from their roster, so they could make noise again next year.
“We started four juniors tonight,” Tucker said. “Blake (Winterberg), our senior, had a great year. I was really proud of him. He missed nine weeks last year with a broken foot and came back and had a tremendous season; just a competitor and always did what we asked. He was just a coach’s dream.”
Greenwood, which improved to 24-3 overall, also has a young roster that includes just one senior.
“They have a lot of confidence and throughout the year, those freshmen are now sophomores, and the sophomores are juniors… so they’ve all progressed,” Taylor said. “They really trust each other and they’re all really good friends. It’s just really been a lot of fun to coach this group.”
The path to the championship allowed the Bluejays to avenge previous losses to second-seeded Sparta – a 43-40 loss in the Gold Division (Blue and Gold Tournament) quarterfinals and a 68-57 loss in last year’s district championship. This year, Greenwood advanced to the district finals by defeating the Trojans 66-59 in the semifinals.
“We felt disrespected, to be honest, and we knew we had to come out and play harder and harder because we always have a target on our back,” Clark said of being the three-seed. “But it felt nice to beat a team that knocked us out last year, and then Fair Grove beat us last year, too, so it felt good to get these wins.”
Up next for the Bluejays will be Southwest (Washburn), a 68-66 winner over Lamar in the Class 3 District 12 final, in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday.
“(We have to) keep playing hard,” Clark said. “It doesn’t matter who we play against. We have to bring the intensity every single night. Play hard, play together and we will win.”
(3) GREENWOOD 43, (1) FAIR GROVE 36
Class 3 District 11 Tournament
Championship game
GREENWOOD 12-6-10-15—43
FAIR GROVE 12-3-7-14—36
GREENWOOD (24-3) – Collin Clark 17, Cooper Morgan 3, Logan Sanders 9, Garrett Winslow 9, Caden Frederick 5.
FAIR GROVE (21-7) – Spensar Seigar 15, Kyle Winterberg 3, Blake Winterberg 7, Bryden Baxter 4, Nolen Geitz 4, Kellen Lair 3.
Up next: Greenwood vs. Southwest (Washburn), Tuesday, Feb. 27, sectionals
