Bloomfield Christmas: Risco Tigers win in historic fifth-place match
BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The last time Risco made a run in the Bloomfield Christmas tournament was 1959.
Now, 65 years later, the Risco Tigers would take down the Richland Rebels 77-67 on the final day to take fifth.
According to Risco’s head coach Brandon Blankenship, this win meant so much more to them than just a fifth palace showing.
“The opportunity to play in this tournament is big for us,” Blankenship said. “It’s big for our school and our community so we obviously wanted to make a strong showing and to cap it off like this feels great.”
Along with their long hiatus from the biggest holiday tournament in Southeast Missouri, this win in particular against Richland showed a turning tide for the Tigers.
Last season, the Rebels halted Risco’s District run and potential State tournament berth. As the No. 2 seed, they beat Risco 74-62 in the District Championship game and stole their place in the Class 1 State Tournament.
While this game was about representation for Risco, it was also about revenge against Richland.
“Richland is a great team,” Blankenship said. “I figured this would be a good test, to play them. We know we will have to play them at least one more time and they are in Class 1 with us so we might potentially see them down the road in the playoffs. Our teams are so similar that each game will probably be close like that.”
Richland had the early advantage, with a 22-16 lead over Risco in the first quarter.
Then the momentum shifted in the second quarter, with a 7-1 run by the Tigers to tie the game at 23. Risco junior Owen Fortner would capitalize on this run after a steal and breakaway dunk, escalating Risco’s energy.
A few moments later, his teammate Sammmy Smith would drive to the rim and get a dunk of his own, expanding their run.
However, Richland stayed consistent. Despite being outscored 20-15 in the second quarter, they still led by one at halftime. They went into the break ahead 37-36.
At the conclusion of the first half, Fortner led both teams with 14 points. He would come out in the second half with the same energy, matching his first-half performance.
Fortner led Risco to a 20-14 run in the third quarter which finally put them up by five, 56-5.
This lead continued to grow in the fourth, as Risco finally began to run away from Richland. Once again limiting the Rebels to 14 points in the final quarter, Risco would have their highest-scoring quarter of the game with 21 points to put Richland away.
Fortner led the Tiger with 28 points while Smith was the second-leading scorer with 19.
For Richland, senior Hunter Sanders and junior Gary Tilley each had 21 points. Along with those two Rebels, senior Tucker Hughes also put up 17 points.
Blankenship said he was glad to be in this tournament again to face tough competition starting from day one on Dec. 26 until the final buzzer on Dec. 30.
“During the regular season, we want to play in tough games,” Blankenship said. “That’s what prepares you for the postseason. I’ve coming to this tournament since I was 10 years old with my dad. Just getting the opportunity to coach in this tournament was special.”