Puxico off to hot start with pair of big wins

Puxico's Landan Burchard (left) and Clearwater's Layton Wilson battle for a rebound during Tuesday's Ozark Foothills Conference boys basketball game at Arnold Ryan Gymnasium in Puxico.

Dexter Statesman/Mike Buhler

The Puxico Indians boys basketball could not have picked a much better way to open the season last Saturday — and the Indians sustained that momentum into Tuesday's home opener.

Fresh off a trip to the Class 2 quarterfinals last season, the Indians drained a whopping 16 3-pointers and opened this season with a 69-65 win over the Chadwick Cardinals — the defending Class 1 state champions — on the second day of the Current River Challenge at Van Buren High School.

“It was a great way to start the year,” Puxico coach Bryant Fernetti said. “We are looking to be in those types of games. It was good for us.”

Then on Tuesday night, Puxico rolled to a 79-44 win over the Clearwater Tigers in its home opener — and also its first game as a member of the Ozark Foothills Conference.

Last Saturday, the Indians led Chadwick (1-2) 17-16 after the first quarter, but the Cardinals rallied to lead 38-33 at the intermission. Puxico narrowed the gap in the third period and trailed by just one point (51-50) by the start of the fourth quarter.

Jett Hancock's triple from the corner just 12 seconds into the final quarter put the Indians ahead 53-51, then Scyler Zimmerman hit turnaround jumper from the free-throw line with 7:18 to go to extend the lead to 55-51.

Chadwick answered with a layup from Clayton Garrison to cut the Indians' lead back to two points (55-53) with 5:12 remaining, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Mason Parsley and Landan Burchard put Puxico ahead 61-53 just over one minute later.

The Cardinals answered again, as Prestin Kinyon's layup with 43 seconds remaining cut the lead to 66-65, but could come no closer as the Indians responded on defense and connected on three free throws in the final 26 seconds — two from Burchard and one from Parsley — to ice the big win.

“I think it sets a good tone for us and gives us positive momentum moving forward,” Fernetti said.

Hancock drained five 3s on the way to a team-high 20 points, while Burchard also hit five treys and added 17 points. Zimmerman added 12 points, while Kaysen Long added 11 and Parsley finished with nine.

Kinyon paced Chadwick with 24 points, while Garrison added 22 and John Smith finished with 15.

The Indians carried the momentum of last Saturday's win over Chadwick into their home opener on Tuesday against Ozark Foothills Conference rival Clearwater, sprinting out to a big early lead and never looking back.

Puxico (2-0) led 27-14 after the opening period and used a dominating performance in the second quarter to push its lead to 50-19 by the intermission.

The Indians hit 10 3-pointers in Tuesday's contest and also relied on the 1-2 punch of Burchard and Zimmerman. Burchard scored 12 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, while Zimmerman added 12 of his 20 points in the first half. Jerrett Powell added nine points for Puxico, while Hancock had eight, Long had seven and Parsley finished with six.

Layton Johnson paced the visiting Tigers with 14 points, while Lucian Harris had 11 and Lucas Recar finished with seven.