Marshfield rally falls short on Senior Night

The Marshfield Blue Jays staged a furious second half rally, but finally ran out of gas Friday night in the regular season finale, falling to visiting Nixa High School 68-61 in Central Ozark Conference basketball action.

The Blue Jays will take a 12-12 record into post season play at Bolivar High School. Marshfield, the second seed at the Class 4 District 9 Tournament, will play third seed Buffalo on Wednesday night, Feb. 20. The boys final at the Bolivar district is set for Friday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

Nixa, now 15-9, started red hot at Marshfield, building a 21-9 lead after one period, hitting 3-of-4 treys in the quarter. The Jays trailed 33-21 at intermission, then the Eagles were hot again at the start of the second half, building an 19-point advantage in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

That’s when the Blue Jays took flight. Marshfield won the third period 27-22, hitting 10-of-14 field goals, including 4-of-6 treys. Justin Drane and Kelby Phelps each hit a pair of treys in the big third period. Nathan VanDiggelen and Charlie Williams scored 5 points apiece for the Jays in that quarter.

Senior Alex Bartow hit a pair of fourth quarter baskets to help Marshfield cut the Nixa lead to just two possessionis, and Cameron Keenan knocked down a trey which brought the Jays to within two points of the lead in the final moments.

But Nixa was able to withstand the charge thanks to key free throws by Seth Mincks, and good defense in the final minute.

Senior guard Kelby Phelps led a balanced Marshfield attack with 12 points. Phelps hit 3-of-6 treys and was the leading rebounder in the game with 7 boards. He also gave out a game-high 6 assists and blocked a shot.

Nathan VanDiggelen added 11 points, 4 rebounds and an assist to the Marshfield effort.

Charlie Williams blocked 6 shots for Marshfield while scoring 9 points with 5 rebounds and a steal in the game.

Justin Drane scored 8 points in the game for the Jays, hitting 3-of-4 shots with 2 rebounds, a steal, an assist and a blocked shot.

Alex Bartow also scored 8 points for Marshfield with 2 rebounds in the game.

Cameron Keenan added 5 points and 4 assists to the Blue Jays attack.

Justin Jones scored 4 points, a steal and a rebound for Marshfield.

Jordan Jones finished with 2 points, 3 rebounds, a steal, an assist and a blocked shot for the Blue Jays.

Derek Welch scored 2 points in the game for the home team.

Jason Young pulled down a rebound and picked up a steal for Marshfield.

Jordan Keeney led 4 Nixa players scoring in double figures with 16 points in the game, pulling down 5 rebounds with a steal in the game.

Patrick Chandler added 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots to the winning attack.

Chris Hastings also scored 14 points for Nixa with 3 rebounds and an assist.

Seth Mincks scored 13 points and pulled down 6 rebounds for the Eagles.

B. J. Strong scored a point with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, an assist and 2 blocked shots for the winners.

Zach Hill scored 6 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in the game for Nixa.

Caleb Thomas scored 4 points and pulled down 2 rebounds for the Eagles.

Connor Bacon had 2 rebounds for Nixa.

Nixa JV 76, Marshfield JV 45.

The Eagles junior varsity rolled to a 76-45 victory in the preliminary, holding Marshfield scoreless in the first 5 minutes while building a 17-0 advantage.

The Eagles led 48-20 by intermission.

Dwayne McCroskey scored 15 points and pulled down 4 rebounds for Marshfield.

Ty Diehl added 9 points, 3 rebounds and a steal to the Jays attack.

Jake VanDiggelen scored 6 points for Marshfield with 3 rebounds, a steal and a block in the game.

Matt Poole also scored 6 points for the Jays with 2 rebounds.

Scott Ragsdale added 5 points and a rebound to the Marshfield effort.

Isaiah Cottengem finished with 2 points and 4 rebounds; Kelsey Hyde scored 2 points and pulled down 2 rebounds; Jordan Brown had 2 rebounds, a steal and an assist and Rayn Bramer had 2 rebounds and steal for Marshfield.

Ben Fisher led Nixa with 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists in the contest.

Seth Matlock scored 11 points with 5 rebounds and a block for the Eagles.

Trevor Guinn added 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocked shot to the winning attack.

Devin McDowell scored 9 points, Skyler Brown finished with 7 points, Anthony LaBellarte scored 6 points, Luke Denbow added 6 points, Stephen Hardwick finished with 4 points, Jordan Wade scored 3 points and Colter Rantz finished with 2 points for Nixa.

Due to technical interference with Nixa’s radio station our broadcast was lost.  See you at Districts.  GO JAYS!