Woodland boys falter late, allows third-quarter surge as Thayer claims Class 2 bronze

Tasked against the biggest, toughest squad in Southern Missouri, the Cardinals of Woodland boys basketball played step-for-step but couldn’t overcome a huge third-quarter surge as Thayer worked to down them 68-61 in the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown Class 2 third-place game.

Thayer’s won this third-place game for three consecutive years, and against a team that had never even seen the final four before, the Bobcats looked calm and composed coming down the stretch as they made it four consecutive third-place titles.

Going out on a 9-0 run down the stretch in the first half to go from a tight-knit contest to a strong lead at the break, Woodland crawled out from the depths of a tough loss Wednesday to fly to a halftime lead but couldn’t stave off the frantic push of a hard-nosed Thayer defense.

Going plus-15 in the third quarter to emerge from down 8 to up 7 going into the final frame, Thayer’s push was one that a cold-shooting Woodland team simply couldn’t match up to, and a 7-point loss ended its season at fourth.

“For the most part, I felt like defensively we executed for about three quarters of that game,” coach Shawn Kinder said. The parts when we didn't do that is when we broke down.”

Korbin Kinder’s 12 points ruled the roost for Woodland in the first half, dictating a big run that included 7 points from Jackson Shock and another 6 from Lane Lee, but Thayer fired back with 10 from Easton Pitts and another 9 from Devin Harrington.

Then, the floodgates opened for Thayer, 23 points from Pitts, 22 points from Harrington and a third quarter that could not be denied as the Bobcats showed their experience at this stage and powered on past the Cardinals.

On top of his 22 points, Harrington put up a ridiculous 17 boards and 4 thunderous blocks to storm past Woodland while Pitts and Hollis Deckard both recorded 3 steals.

For Woodland, Kinder finished with 21 points as the team’s leading scorer while also logging 7 rebounds and 4 steals. The junior proved to be a magnificent leg of the Cardinals’ game, but he couldn’t push them over for the win.

That being said, it sets the stage for the third-year contributor as he eyes a new era beginning now: A run back to the final four begins now for the Cardinals, and it’ll take another big year from Kinder to do so.

“It makes me just want it more next year,” Korbin Kinder said. “I think we wanted it bad this year for our community and for the first time, but this just makes me want to work two times harder to get back here.”

It wasn’t the prettiest appearance at the final four, but in the end it’s still a program first and that’ll reflect well on the history of the program. Led by some prolific playmakers on both sides of the ball, Woodland more than earned its spot at the state championships.

Supported by not just Woodland, but the entirety of Stoddard County as Puxico fans also in attendance at the state championships showed up in droves to support what’s typically one of their biggest rivals on the most grandiose of stages.

It’s an emotional moment for Woodland, for multiple reasons. However, the support it garnered in Columbia will be echoed for generations as the proud residents of Marble Hill recall the epic run to this stage.

It’s something that coach Kinder seemed quite proud of as the Cardinals took to the postgame interview for the last time, a Delta native and now a longtime staple at Woodland High School.

“It says a lot about Southeast Missouri basketball,” Kinder said. “There's a lot of good teams in our area. A lot of these guys play not only just in school against each other, but they're competing in the summers and the off-season with travel teams and so forth.

“I just think it says a lot about our area. It's a basketball area.”