Tuesday Rewind: Southwest Missouri
The first full week of hoops in Southwest Missouri didn’t disappoint with several teams living up to the early hype. Here’s what we learned about the area last week, as well as a look at this week’s biggest games.
NOTE: We will preview the Ozark Mountain Shootout later this week. Spoiler alert, it is a LOADED event.
Jared Ridder and Cam Davis Have Help
Some were worried about Kickapoo and losing standout guards Ice Johnson and Niekie Thomas-Fontleroy and the impact that would have on the Chiefs at both ends of the floor. Early results suggest that the graduation of Johnson and Thomas has opened the door for Kickapoo’s next elite prospect – 2019 combo guard Donyae McCaskill. He scored 36 points in his final two games at the Jonesboro Classic. They lost in the championship game by four to a really good Jonesboro team. With Ridder and Davis each already having 30-point games this season, finding a consistent third scorer will only make them even tougher to defend. Kickapoo heads to the loaded Fayetteville Tournament this week which should provide three more quality games.
Central Ozarks Conference Still King
If you were expecting the conference to take a step back after losing big names Chase Allen, Kyland Hewitt-Newbill and Alex Derryberry then you weren’t alone. After losing 10 of 12 players on last year’s All-COC Large team it seemed natural that the league would need some time to rebuild. But, after last week it seems like that rebuild will be more of a reload. Nixa won the MBCA Hall of Fame Classic by beating DeSmet, Republic beat Ozark in the finals of the Republic Tournament, Willard won its own Tri-State Tournament by holding off Harrison (Ark.) and Neosho lost in the finals of the Carthage Tournament thanks to a buzzer-beater. A retooled Webb City team that beat both Ozark and Nixa last year will kickoff its 2016-17 season tonight against a solid Lamar team, potentially giving the conference at least five teams with a legitimate shot of winning the COC crown.
Class 3 is loaded
Just in case you haven’t noticed, Class 3 in the Ozarks is loaded. Without going into a ton of detail, there are at least five teams that could make state championship runs and I wouldn’t be shocked. Mountain Grove marched to Columbia last year and return plenty of guard depth and one of the area’s top point guards in 2018 Carter Otwell. The team they beat in the quarterfinals – Fair Grove – will have one of the toughest front lines to deal with in 6-foot-7 senior Evan Fullerton and 6-foot-5 junior Steven Huskey. Senior guard Garrett Kesterson will be one of the most elite scorers in the area this year. Clever returns dynamic duo Jakob Partee and Devan Hampton, as does Licking with 6-foot-5 senior standouts Brady Smith and Nathan Wilson. MV-BT/Liberty is deep, athletic and big at nearly every position and have a coach in Yancey Walker that understands how to play with that kind of lineup. Then, there’s Lamar. They aren’t getting much love because of the football reputation, but the Tigers bring back nearly everything from last year, led by 6-foot-5 senior Sam Timmons. Tyler Ryerson is in his first year with the program and has enough depth and talent to make a run. In the coming weeks several of these teams will play each other.
Performances of the Week
2017 F Houston Johnson, Willard
The 6-foot-6 senior snapped in the championship of the Tri-State Classic, hitting Harrison (Ark.) for 29 points and nine rebounds in a 66-60 win. Johnson has had a strong start to the season after missing all of last year due to an ankle injury.
2019 G Braeden Combs, Nixa
Last year Combs gave the Ozarks an appetizer to his game and three games into this year he’s giving folks the full meal. Combs took home MVP honors at the MBCA Hall of Fame Classic, buoyed by a 23-point performance in 79-75 win over DeSmet in the championship game. Combs is in the conversation as the most talented combo guard in Southwest Missouri regardless of class.
2017 G/F Noah Abbasi, Fordland
He’s not on a ton of radars yet, but that could change if he continues to post lines like he did last week. He had a 32-12-5 line in a win over Lutie and that’s not an anomaly. Abbasi is averaging 20.8 PPG, 10 RPG and 5.5 APG in his first four games of the season. Fordland is currently undefeated.
2018 G Logan Thomazin, Walnut Grove
After pouring in more than 24 PPG as a sophomore, Thomazin has wasted little time getting in the groove this season, going for 27 points in the semifinals and championship of the Forsyth Tournament, leading the Tigers to wins over Class 3 Forsyth and Class 4 West Plains. Walnut Grove is the No. 1 Class 1 team in Missouri’s state poll.
2017 G JT Brown, Parkview
Three games, 67 points and a whole lot of interest. That’s basically how Brown’s weekend went. He hit DeSmet up for 21 in a near upset, hung 29 on Central and then posted 17 in a win over Hillcrest. He’s been one of the city’s top players so far this season, proving his ability to score efficiently from anywhere on the floor.
Games of the Week (Dec. 5-10)
Dec. 6
Parkview at Willard
Lamont Fraizer and Landon Cornish are both trying to get their teams going after struggling last year and both are off to strong starts. For me, this will be a huge test for a pair of seniors looking to continue their dominance. Parkview 2017 G JT Brown has been a stud early on, as has Willard 2017 F Houston Johnson. Whichever senior can dominate their matchup should be the one that helps his team pick up a dub.
Lamar at Webb City
Two teams with football traditions, new head coaches and an abundance of talent. Lamar has one of the area’s top bigs in Sam Timmons and Webb City has one of the state’s top freshmen in Terrel Kabala. He and standout senior Trey Gibson and emerging sophomore Alex Gaskill will look to get going against an athletic Lamar defense.
Hillcrest at Bolivar
Last year Bolivar embarrassed Hillcrest. This year both teams have district championship aspirations. Conley Garrison (Bolivar) vs. Shahn Clark (Hillcrest) will be one of the top point guard matchups all season. Hillcrest has no answer for Brandon Emmert, but Bolivar will struggle to stop Tyem Freeman. Something has to give.
Walnut Grove at Greenfield
Walnut Grove is the No. 1 team in Class 1 and Greenfield might be the team most equipped to beat them because of their size (four players over 6-foot-3). The guard play in this one should be fun with standout 2018s Thomazin and Marcus Wright being two of the best at what they do.
Dec. 8
MV-BT/Liberty at Eminence
Liberty has suffered a pair of early losses to Hartville and Thayer – two of the best Class 2 teams in Missouri. The Eagles really don’t want another loss coming to a smaller school. Meanwhile Eminence returns nearly everything from last year, led by 6-foot-6 sophomore Trent McBride. The Redwings opened the season with a win over a Bloomfield team that went to the Final Four just last year, with McBride posting a 20-10 double-double. McBride matching up with Liberty’s 6-foot-8 2018 forward Shalin Stout will be the most intriguing post battle this week.
Dec. 9
Fordland at Hartville
It’s been awhile since Fordland beat Hartville and recently the games haven’t been close. But, Fordland is off to a perfect start behind the impressive play of 6-foot-3 standouts Noah Abbasi and Noah Sparks. They’ll need to play at an elite level to overcome depth concerns against the likes of Dune Piper, Deric Jones and Hartville. The reigning Class 2 state champions already have wins over Liberty, Fair Grove and Clever.
Clever at Strafford
Last year both teams won 20 games and were state-ranked for much of the season. Both also have district title dreams in one of the toughest districts in Missouri. This game will be huge when it comes to district seeds, especially consider that Clever, Fair Grove and Strafford would much rather have the one seed and avoid the other two until the championship game.
Licking at MV-BT/Liberty
Speaking of districts, Liberty ended Licking’s season last year on a buzzer-beater. This coming after Licking knocked off Liberty in the district title the year before. In fact, these two have ended each other’s season each year since 2012. This one is also full of fun individual matchups with Brady Smith vs. Matt Coatney – two 6-foot-5ish guards that are versatile – and Nathan Wilson vs. Shalin Stout in the post.
Walnut Grove at Crane
Crane embarrassed Walnut Grove last year in a neutral-site game. The final spread was 15 but Crane led wire-to-wire and took the fight to Grove. Both teams will likely be undefeated entering this game with yet another marquee guard pairing with Thomazin seeing Crane senior Dalton Hayes.