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It was a battle for a possible share of first place in the Ozark Conference standings and for both the Rolla and Springfield Parkview high school boys’ basketball teams a glimpse of what the upcoming post-season competition is going to be like.
However, the final home game for the Rolla Bulldogs didn’t go as planned.
The Parkview Vikings outscored Rolla 11-5 over the final 1:49 and pulled out a 63-58 victory in the OC showdown at the RHS gym.
It was Senior Night for the Bulldogs.
As it turned out first-place in the standings was not on the line, as Springfield Glendale stayed unbeaten by clipping Springfield Kickapoo 68-60 last night.
That leaves Glendale 6-0 in the OC race while Parkview is 5-1 and Rolla, Kickapoo and Springfield Hillcrest are all 4-2.
The Bulldogs fall to 16-6 overall while the Vikings improve to 18-4 overall.
“We feel like we’re as good as anyone in the conference and district,” said RHS head coach Mark Miller. “We just got ourselves in a little bit of a hole in the first half. We fixed that in the second half, but instead of getting over the hump we took a couple of shots in critical times when we should have been a little more patient.”
The game was tight most of the way, although the Vikings put a little daylight between themselves and RHS in the second period.
Rolla trailed 14-11 after one quarter. The Viking lead grew to as much as 33-23 in the second quarter. Rolla hit the final field goal of the first half to cut its halftime deficit to 33-25.
However, the Bulldogs whittled away at their deficit the tied things up in the third period. It was 44-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
The two teams swapped baskets for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. And Rolla took its first lead of the period with 1:49 remaining when senior guard Jay Zalis dropped a three-point field goal, making it 53-52.
It would be Rolla’s only lead of the period, as Parkview reeled off the next six points, as senior guard Taylor Acord hit a driving layup and, with :56 left, followed that up by hitting both ends of one-and-one free throw attempts. That left Parkview with a 56-53 edge.
With :45 remaining Zalis fired up a three-pointer, which was off the mark and Parkview grabbed the defensive board.
Forced to stop the clock, Rolla fouled Parkview’s 6-3 junior Erik Durham with :40 left. Durham hit both free throws to make it a five-point game.
It was a battle for a possible share of first place in the Ozark Conference standings and for both the Rolla and Springfield Parkview high school boys’ basketball teams a glimpse of what the upcoming post-season competition is going to be like.
However, the final home game for the Rolla Bulldogs didn’t go as planned.
The Parkview Vikings outscored Rolla 11-5 over the final 1:49 and pulled out a 63-58 victory in the OC showdown at the RHS gym.
It was Senior Night for the Bulldogs.
As it turned out first-place in the standings was not on the line, as Springfield Glendale stayed unbeaten by clipping Springfield Kickapoo 68-60 last night.
That leaves Glendale 6-0 in the OC race while Parkview is 5-1 and Rolla, Kickapoo and Springfield Hillcrest are all 4-2.
The Bulldogs fall to 16-6 overall while the Vikings improve to 18-4 overall.
“We feel like we’re as good as anyone in the conference and district,” said RHS head coach Mark Miller. “We just got ourselves in a little bit of a hole in the first half. We fixed that in the second half, but instead of getting over the hump we took a couple of shots in critical times when we should have been a little more patient.”
The game was tight most of the way, although the Vikings put a little daylight between themselves and RHS in the second period.
Rolla trailed 14-11 after one quarter. The Viking lead grew to as much as 33-23 in the second quarter. Rolla hit the final field goal of the first half to cut its halftime deficit to 33-25.
However, the Bulldogs whittled away at their deficit the tied things up in the third period. It was 44-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
The two teams swapped baskets for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. And Rolla took its first lead of the period with 1:49 remaining when senior guard Jay Zalis dropped a three-point field goal, making it 53-52.
It would be Rolla’s only lead of the period, as Parkview reeled off the next six points, as senior guard Taylor Acord hit a driving layup and, with :56 left, followed that up by hitting both ends of one-and-one free throw attempts. That left Parkview with a 56-53 edge.
With :45 remaining Zalis fired up a three-pointer, which was off the mark and Parkview grabbed the defensive board.
Forced to stop the clock, Rolla fouled Parkview’s 6-3 junior Erik Durham with :40 left. Durham hit both free throws to make it a five-point game.
Rolla senior forward Keegan Garner scored on a put-back of a David Cox missed field goal with :26 remaining to cut the Viking edge to 58-55.
Again Durham was fouled on the next trip down and again he canned both free throws.
With :14 remaining Cox, a 6-2 senior, drained a trey from the top of the key to make it a two-point game, 60-58, with RHS immediately calling a timeout.
One second later Parkview’s freshman guard Autry Acord was sent to the foul line. The freshman canned both clutch free throws to make it a four-point spread.
Working for a shot Rolla then committed a turnover with seven seconds left. Parkview hit one-of-two free throws with :05 left to make the final score.
“(Parkview head coach Bill Brown) coaches a good game,” Miller said. “He runs a conservative offense but they get a lot of good shots. You combine getting good looks with good athletes...that’s tough to beat.”
Only seniors scored for RHS on Senior Night. Zalis fired in a game-high 27 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Bulldogs while guard Mike Miller and Cox each added 11 points. In all the Bulldogs canned eight 3-pointers.
Four players scored in double figures for the Vikings, led by Durham with 15, T. Acord with 13 and 6-7 senior forward Taylor Harville 11.
Rolla’s junior varsity team improved to 14-7 by clipping Parkview 41-38.
The jayvee game was tied at 11 after the first period and Parkview took a 23-17 lead into halftime. The jayvee Bulldogs trailed 32-31 after three periods but outscored the Vikings 10-6 in the final quarter to pull out the victory.
Freshman forward Caleb Copeland tallied 17 points for the Rolla jayvee squad.
The Bulldogs will play another Ozark Conference double-header on Friday at Camdenton, with jayvee action starting at 6 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 3
On Friday, Feb. 3 the Bulldogs hosted West Plains in league play and defeated the Zizzers 63-57.
Rolla led 15-11 after the first period and the game was tied at 24 at intermission. Rolla clung to a 43-42 lead entering the fourth period and then outscored West Plains 20-15 in the final quarter.
Zalis tallied 19 points while Miller added 18 and Garner and Cox each had 10.
West Plains won the junior varsity game 68-66. Rolla’s jayvee squad had a 21-11 lead after the first period and took a 36-25 edge into halftime. Rolla led 54-43 entering the fourth quarter but was outscored 25-12 in the final period.
Copeland had 22 points, Tyler Beistel had 16 points and Tyler Kean 13 for the Rolla jayvee squad.
Scoring
Tuesday
Varsity
Parkview 63, Rolla 58
Rolla (58): Miller 3-3-11, Zalis 9-6-27, Garner 4-0-8, Da. Cox 4-0-11, Vance 0-1-1, Totals 20-10-58.
Parkview (63): A. Acord 0-2-2, Wardlow 3-0-6, Green 3-0-6, Durham 4-7-15, T. Acord 4-4-13, Reichert 4-2-10, Harville 4-0-11, Totals 22-15-63.
Junior Varsity
Rolla 41, Parkview 38
Rolla (41): Kean 3-0-8, Beistel 1-0-2, Froehlich 1-2-4, Maynard 1-4-6, Frimpong 0-2-2, O’Brennan 1-0-2, Copeland 5-4-17, Totals 12-12-41.
Parkview (38): A. Acord 0-3-3, Downey 6-0-14, Kendrick 5-3-13, Farquhar 2-0-4, Wright 1-0-2, Robinson 1-0-2, Totals 15-6-38.
Feb. 3
Varsity
Rolla 63, West Plains 57
Rolla (63): Miller 6-4-18, Zalis 7-3-19, Garner 4-2-10, Janke 2-0-4, Cox 3-2-10, Vance 1-0-2, Totals 23-11-63.
West Plains (57): Henlan 2-0-4, Miller 2-0-6, Freshaw 3-0-8, Williams 4-2-11, Warren 2-0-4, Gill 3-4-10, Butler 3-4-10, Denis 2-0-4, Totals 21-10-57.
Junior Varsity
West Plains 68, Rolla 66
Rolla (66): Kean 5-0-13, Beistel 5-1-16, Facen 2-0-5, Maynard 2-4-8, Frimpong 1-0-2, Copeland 8-6-22, Totals 23-11-66.
West Plains (68): Womack 1-2-5, Harrill 2-1-5, Freshour 8-21, Charles 2-0-4, Burroughs 2-0-5, Neuschwanden 2-0-5, Smith 3-1-6, Butler 2-0-5, Gill 4-4-12, Totals 26-10-68.
