MSHSAA Class 2 District 1: Boys Basketball First Round Updates

SENATH, Mo. - As the regular season ends for Missouri high school basketball, the Senath-Hornersville Lions kick off the postseason by hosting the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 boys basketball tournament.

No. 4 Senath-Hornersville vs No.5 Neelyville

Unfortunately, for the hosting Lions, their postseason run would be cut short after a 58-56 upset against the Neelyville Tigers.

This game between the No.4 and No.5 seed proved to be the closest matchup of the night. It even required some overtime play before the winner was declared with only a two-point margin.

Neelyville head coach Brad Burdin said he was excited they were able to keep their season alive and come out with the win despite playing in enemy territory.

“Senath-[Hornersville] is a phenomenal team,” Burdin said. “They play super hard and we knew coming into this tournament, playing on their home floor was going to be a tall task. We were just fortunate enough to come out with the win.”

Burdin emphasized picking up on the hustle stats to his players, as he said the Lions are known to win ball games by out-hustling their opponents. His main focus was also to shut down Senath-Hornersville’s shooters.

They never truly pulled away from the Lions until the fourth quarter, when they reached as much as a 10-point lead. However, Senath-Hornersville quickly dismissed this deficit. Senior Adyn (Spencer) Goff tied the game up at 51 points apiece with less than five seconds left after driving straight down the middle of the paint and to the basket.

Neither team would get an edge in overtime either. However, the Tigers found themselves at the line on three separate occasions, where they scored five of their seven overtime points.

Neelyville senior Casen Stephens ultimately would make the final free throw to settle this win for the Tigers.

Burdin completes his team’s composure in overtime to pull out a victory.

“It’s a different ball game playing people at home,” Burdin said. “That’s one thing we pride ourselves on, playing at home. So we knew Senath would have the same mentality. They had a lot fans here in their home town and the atmosphere was pretty intense and electric which made it difficult for us. But we just fought through the intensity and the atmosphere.”

Stephens would be Neelyville’s top scorer with a game-high 20 points. Junior Carson Parker would also add 10 points to their total as their second-leading scorer.

Senior Braden Roy of Senath-Hornersville finished with 15 points while Goff trailed right behind scoring 14 points to conclude their high school basketball career. Junior Jamarious White added 12 points, all of which were scored in the second half.

Now the Tigers move on to face No. 1 seeded Campbell on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.

“We’ve played them twice this year already and they are drastically better than they were last year,” Burdin said. “They have some knocked-down shooters, they work hard and are well coached. We are going to rest up, game plan and then go execute on Wednesday.”

No. 2 Hayti vs No. 7 Holcomb

The Hayti Indians have been labeled the favorites for this District assignment despite their runner-up seeding. They looked to prove their worth in the first round with a 76-point victory over the Holcomb Hornets.

The final score was 111-35.

Although he was happy to make it out of the first round respectfully, Hayti’s head coach Donald Webb said intensifying their defense would be the only way to survive the next two rounds and make it past districts.

“I told our guys this game and every game from here on could be our last,” Webb said. “The records this season don’t matter. Everyone is 0-0 right now and it’s do or die so we have to be intense and we have to play like this this our last time.”

As Webb preached intensity, his players enforced it on the court. With just under two minutes left in the first quarter, the Indians already gained a 34-4 lead over Holcomb and never slowed up. Sophomores Nicolia Sohahong-Kombet and KeAnthony Taylor each scored eight points in the first quarter, leading the Indians to a 34-7 advantage to start.

They would each finish the half with 12 points apiece. J’Vonte Payne, Tameryn Turner and Dwayne Grant also turned on the intensity, as all three of these players scored six points each to lead the Indians in the second quarter. Grant would finish the half with 11 total points.

The first-half score was 70-15 as Sohahong-Kombet, Taylor and Grant were all already scoring in double digits.

Holcomb senior Matthew Russom and sophomore Christopher Bowen did all they could for the Hornets. They each finished the half with six points.

Russom continued to show his senior leadership in the second half. He led the Hornets with six points in the third quarter. He would then score two deep three-pointers in the fourth quarter to cap off his high school career with an 18-point performance.

Bowen was the next leading scorer for the Hornets with 12 points.

Despite their contributions, the Hornets could not slow down Hayti’s scoring.

The Indians put up 25 more points in the third quarter, lead by junior Jayden Peet. Peet scored all eight of his points in this quarter.

Hayti’s J.C. Ford and Isaiah Love would each score four points apiece in the fourth quarter to help close out their advancing victory.

The Indians had seven players score in double-digits.

Sohahong-Kombet was the leading scorer with a game-high 20 points. Taylor would finish with 15 points and Grant had 13 points while Ford, Love and Turner all finished with 12 points. Payne was the seventh leading scorer for Hayti with 10 total points.

No. 3 South Pemiscot vs No. 6 Malden

The final game of the night determined who Hayti would have to face next.

South Pemiscot established themselves as that contender after escaping Malden with a 70-54 victory.

The Green Wave did not make it east for South Pemiscot, however. The game stayed within close contact through the first half. Malden went into the break only trailing 37-31.

The Bulldogs finally started to pull away in the third quarter, as they limited Malden to only nine points coming out of halftime.

The eventually opened the gap to a more comfortable lead in the closing quarters. South Pemiscot junior Robert Farmer III led the Bulldogs with 18 points. He had 14 points in the first half before Malden began to contain him in the second half, limiting him to only one field goal and two made free-throws.

However, as they stepped up to defend Farmer, sophomores Damarius Mayberry and Ty’Riquis Campbell began to step up and attack.

Mayberry was the next leading scorer, trailing right behind Farmer with 17 points and Campbell would complete the game with 12 points.

According to the Bulldogs’ head coach Jordan McGowen, the key to them pulling away in the second half was spreading out the floor more.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game coming in,” McGowen said. “Last time we played Malden, we only beat them by a few points. They are a tough matchup for us because we are so small and they have some big post players, but I thought we came out and executed our game plan pretty well.”

Malden senior Zackary Perkins did everything he could to avoid elimination. He led the Green Wave with 16 points and four three-pointers. Zion Bell Darville also contributed 14 points in the paint for Malden.

Still, Malden would conclude their season as South Pemiscot advances to face Hayti.

“Now, it’s on to the next one,” McGowen said. “We live to see another day and we have a great opponent up next. We’ve already beat them once but they finished out the year pretty well so I hope we can compete and put on a good showing in a two-seed three-seed match up.”

For Hayti, Webb continues to hang their head on defensive pressure.

After their win over Holcomb, he wants the team’s confidence to shift to getting more defensive stops as the competition advances.

“Defense is the only way we’re gonna win this [tournament],” Webb said. “We have to leave it all out on the floor because every game could be our last. We are going to give it our all from the jump until the final buzzer.”

No. 2 Hayti will face No. 3 South Pemiscot on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.