Entering Tuesday’s episode of the Nixa-Ozark rivalry, the Eagles enjoyed five-straight wins over the Tigers going back to 2013. That trend continued.
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Ozark hung tight throughout the game with terrific perimeter shooting, but Nixa defended their home court and came away with a 61-58 victory on Tuesday. The win gives Nixa eleven victories out of the last thirteen matchups against the Tigers including six in a row.
No team trailed by more than nine points in the game. After falling into a 35-32 hole at halftime, Nixa decided to tweak their zone defense. The Eagles regained the lead thanks to a tremendous third quarter where they went on a 14-2 run.
“I thought the third quarter was vital because we stretched out a three-point deficit into [a nine-point lead],” said Nixa head coach Jay Osborne.
“We walked in the locker room and they just came in a basically told us, ‘Hey, we’re playing a home game right now and getting beat by three against Ozark,’ and that was all they needed to say,” said junior guard Seth Viebrock who led all scorers with 19 points for Nixa. “We got pumped up and were ready to go.”
Junior Austin Bracker delivered 16 points and Chase Allen grinded out 11 points down low in what was a crowded paint area. Their offense was able to counter Ozark’s outside shooting, but the defensive adjustments were what made the difference in the second half for Nixa.
“When we came out [to start the game], we didn’t get off to the best start,” said Viebrock. “Ozark was knocking down shots and our defense wasn’t where it should be. In practices we tried to implement a new defense to cover their shooters and it kind of just got us all jumbled. So when we came out in the second half we went back to our old defense and played a lot better.”
Ozark didn’t go away, though. On three separate occasions, the Tigers pulled to within three points in the fourth quarter. They actually outscored Nixa 15-11 in the final frame. But Nixa was able to keep them at bay, thanks in part to Viebrock knocking down two free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
“They made a run at us late in the game,” said Osborne. “I knew they were going to make a run at us. Credit our kids; I thought we executed and I thought we played with a lot of intensity tonight. I thought Viebrock and Bracker both took their games up to another level. I feel good about the win.”
The two Christian County rivals met last month in the Houlihans Fightin’ Irish Invitational at Springfield Catholic. Nixa beat Ozark in that contest 61-52.
“Anytime you can beat your big rival two times in one year, that’s awesome,” said Osborne. There’s no shame to admit we’re excited about beating Ozark. [Ozark Coach Mark] Schweitzer’s doing a good job with them. They’ve got dangerous perimeter shooters. They attacked our zone extremely well, got great looks and we’re fortunate to win tonight… Sometimes you just gotta go out and take the game and I thought our kids did in the second half.”
Nixa is coming off a 56-50 loss to COC-Large foe Republic on Friday, Feb. 12. After the win against Ozark, the Eagles move to 19-4 on the year (4-1 in conference). Ozark drops to 16-7 (2-4).
Republic is also 19-4, but they’re undefeated at 5-0 in the conference and are in line to claim the COC-Large title. First they must take on Ozark this Friday, Feb. 19 and Branson to close out the regular season on Feb. 23.
“We just lost to Republic, but this game, this win was a big deal for us giving us our momentum and our composure back,” said Viebrock. “If Republic loses this week, we still have a shot at a conference title.”
Nixa: 16 – 16 – 18 – 11 – 61
Ozark: 15 – 20 – 8 – 15 – 58
Nixa: Seth Viebrock 19, Austin Bracker 16, Chase Allen 11, Garrett Bacon 6, Preston Flood 4, Nathan Elmer 3, Christian Bundy 2
Ozark: Quinn Nelson 14, Kyland Hewett-Newbill 12, Clayton Engel 12, Riley Simmons 10, Peyton Osborn 4, Curt Gracey 2, Collin Bottoms 2, Carter Burgess 2
