Tri-County Tournament: Risco overcomes mid-game brawl and advances to final

CARDWELL, Mo. - Night two of the Tri-County Conference presented a bigger challenge for the No. 1 seeded Risco Tigers compared to their 87-10 victory in the first round.

After a sluggish first half and a mid-game brawl, the Tigers were still able to hold off Clarkton, routing to a 70-39 win.

Throughout the first half, Clarkton held the MSHSAA Class 1-ranked Tigers within striking distance. With only an eight-point deficit at halftime, the Reindeer were in a position to present an upset.

Defensively, they held Risco’s top scorer Sammy Smith to only two points in the first half. Both of those points were scored at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, James Johnson led the Reindeer with eight points in the first half.

Fortunately, for Risco, they have multiple scoring threats. Junior Owen Fortner kept their offense rolling with nine first-half points. Senior Landon Baker also stepped up with seven points and a buzzer-beater to close out the half.

Head coach Brandon Blankenship said they had to make some adjustments to combat Clarkton’s defense.

“We were having trouble getting buckets to go down,” Blankenship said. “I think our guys were mentally pressed because of that. We just have to play through our missed shots, they aren’t going to fall all the time.”

On their first possession out of the break, as Risco slowed the ball at midcourt, Blankenship would signal his players.

“Run it,” he said.

The play opened up Smith for a three-pointer, giving him his first field goal of the game and finally removing the lid on the basket for the rest of the Tigers.

“I just told them at halftime not to panic,” Blankenship said. “You try to tell guys to expect everybody's best, We are at a place where everybody is looking to knock us off. We just have to stay the course, we made a few adjustments here and there, but we just had to stick to our game.”

Along with opening up their scoring, the Tiger began to extend their defense which halted Clarkton to only seven points in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Risco would put up 19 third-quarter points and extend their lead to 20 at 52-32.

Enter the final quarter, Clarkton did not let go of their efforts. As they upped their energy on defense, both teams upped their intensity. This led to more physicality and eventually a fight broke out among the players in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.

Multiple technical fouls were dished out to both teams and one Clarkton player was ejected before continuation.

Even though Blankenship was disappointed in the conflict, he was proud of how the officials and coaching staff handled the scuffle.

“We’re human,” Blankenship said. “It gets your emotions shaken a little bit and your adrenaline pumping. It’s unfortunate that happened and we hate to see things like that go down on the court, I’m proud of the guys getting in there and trying to separate stuff. It’s good to see teammates sticking up for other teammates.”

Following their brawl, Clarkton’s freshman Caleb Redden would re-enter the game. He sat most of the third quarter with four fouls. However, after Clarkton suffered an ejection of one of their starters, Redden would do all he could to redeem the Reindeer and reel his team back in.

Despite his efforts, he was able to go on a seven-point run before he finally picked up his fifth foul on a moving screen violation. He fouled out as Clarkton’s top scorer with 13 points.

Meanwhile, the fight did not alter Risco’s approach. They outscored Clarkton 18-10 in the fourth quarter.

Fortner led the Tigers with a game-high 15 points. Seniors Baker and Smith both ended up with 11 points and junior point guard Eli Rodgers finished with 10 points.

“We had a lot better second half than we did the first half,” Blankenship said. “We just hope our defensive effort is still there so we can keep going even when shots aren’t falling.”

The Tigers move on to the Championship game on Thursday, Feb. 13. They are set to face off against the hosting school, Southland, who pulled off an upset victory over No. 2 ranked Gideon to advance.

With a day of rest in between, Blankenship wants to make sure his players and fresh and ready for Thursday’s competition.

“We’ll get some shots up on Wednesday and go over some things,” Blankenship said. “At this time of year, when you are playing good competition, you want to just work out kinks and be consistent.”