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Twin Rivers defeats Gideon on the road
GIDEON, Mo. - The Twin Rivers High School Basketball Royals took to the road Friday and returned to Broseley with a win.
The Royals (14-12) traveled to Gideon, where the visitors took on the hometown Bulldogs (7-18) and took them out for a run, 67-50.
Royals head coach Seth McBroom said both teams performed well, and both played with enthusiasm.
“I'm proud of our guys,” McBroom said. “This was a well-played game. I think maybe this was a good tune-up for both teams.”
Both the Royals and the Bulldogs participate in this week's district tournaments.
Class 1 District 1 No. 2-seeded Gideon might find some much-needed respite from this season's brutalities by squaring off against seventh-seeded North Pemiscot Mustangs (1-19) during Tuesday's quarterfinals, 5 p.m. at Clarkton High School.
“Anybody can win that tournament,” Bulldogs head coach Keenan Buchanan said. “You got probably, six teams that can win it.
“Whoever plays, whoever competes,” he added. “It's anybody's tournament this year.”
Class 3 District 1 No. 6-seeded Twin Rivers faces a tougher opponent, third-seeded East Prairie Eagles (20-6), 6:15 p.m., at Portageville High School.
“They're a heck of a team,” McBroom said of the Eagles. “They're athletic.
“They're skilled,” he continued. “We're looking forward to the challenge.”
In addition to agility, Twin Rivers is blessed with height, length, depth and strength, the latter the result of additional training, McBroom said.
“We made an emphasis on the weight room this year,” the coach explained. “It's helped.
“We'll continue that process over the next few years,” he continued. “We've got some younger guys, ninth and tenth graders, who have good-looking builds. As long as they fall in love with the weight room, we could have some real successes down the road.”
The Royals were out front from the tip Friday and “running different defenses,” Twin Rivers led the Bulldogs at the end of one, 14-9, on a Bret Robards three-point bomb.
“We kinda worked the ball a little bit,” McBroom said. “We did things we talked about during practice.”
The Royals must have concentrated on loss and prevention, because the team wore out the Bulldogs off the glass.
“We did get some offensive boards,” McBroom said. “Defense and rebounding are more important than breathing.
“We had eight offensive boards in the second half,” he added. “That might have been the difference there in the third quarter when we went on that little run that started the fourth.”
Buchanan said his team played hard, has room to grow, and the talent to improve and execute.
“We took some bad shots tonight that I think we can get better at,” Buchanan said. “I can't deny Twin Rivers' effort.
“They are a very good team,” he added. “They're big. They're strong and long. They're well-coached. That's a real combination.”
Twin Rivers' Carter Williams loaded up and fired a three with 4:20 left on the second period timer 27-16 Royals.
A subsequent Royals alley-oop attempt failed. Gideon's Hayden Lacewell rebounded and took the ball coast-to-coast, only to have it stolen by Twin Rivers' Jake Hester, passed off to Williams, and returned to Hester, who laid in the ball for two points.
Gideon's Landon Weaver popped his first of three, three-point nuggets from way outside with 1:30 remaining in the second period, 32-19 Royals.
“It's always good when he can do that,” Buchanan said.
Twin Rivers led at the half 36-21; four Gideon fouls, two for the Royals.
The third period opened with Weaver blasting his second three of the game, 37-24, answered by a Twin Rivers goal, 39-24 Royals.
The Royals' Robards dropped one of two three-point projectiles, followed later by an Eli Thurman three, 46-30 Royals with 4:25 left in the third.
Weaver, with the hot three-point hand for Gideon, aced his final trey of the game, 50-33 Twin Rivers with 3:24 left in the third.
The Royals' defense shined in the third period when Luke Hester stole the ball, passed off to Jake Hester who bussed the ball downtown for a goal, 52-33 Royals with 2:55 remaining on the third-period clock.
A foul called on Gideon that fired up the Bulldogs' stands was questioned vehemently by Buchanan and halted the game temporarily; “It happens when teams play each other this hard,” a thought shared by both coaches; 57-39 Twin Rivers at the end of three.
“Two kids got tangled up,” McBroom said. “When you're in the crowd, everybody wants that call to go in your favor.”
The Bulldogs bested the Royals by a point, 11-10 in the final period. But it wasn't enough to beat Twin Rivers and the Royals emerged victorious, 67-50.
Twin Rivers' Jake Hester, William Parker and Robards each dropped two, three point shots.
Gideon's Weaver led the teams with three treys; Drake Montgomery scored two.
The Bulldogs Lacewell, Weaver and Montgomery all scored in double digits; The Royals' Zach Joiner was the game's high-scorer with 20 points, Jake Hester had 16 and Luke Hester scored 13.
Twin Rivers started Williams, Jake Hester, Robards, Luke Hester and Joiner.
Gideon started Lacewell, Knapp, Weaver, Montgomery and Akex Deprow, who tallied seven for the Bulldogs.
“(Landon) Weaver played a great game,” Buchanan observed. “(Hayden) Lacewell, (Brayden) Knapp, and the rest of the team are all right there.
“We just haven't crossed that line yet,” he added.
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