CONGRATULATIONS BLUE JAYS ON 1ST PLACE!
The 2nd seeded Marshfield Blue Jays earned their way into the championship game by beating Walnut Grove 73-28 in the first round. Next up was host Morrisville. That match saw the Jays beat the Panthers 54-41.
For top seeded Buffalo, the first round game was against Niangua. The Bison took that one 77-44. The second round opponent was Stockton, Buffalo got out of that one with a 10 point win 65-55.
The championship game was set and for the second year in a row it come down to Marshfield vs Buffalo. Marshfield’s starting lineup tonight was 5’9" Senior Cameron Keenan, 5’10’ Junior Dwayne McCroskey, 6’1 Freshman Utah Findley, 6’3" Freshman Jared Greenlee, and 6’6" Senior Charlie Williams.
In the early going it appeared the game would be a blow out. Marshfield jumped out to a big 13-4 lead after the first quarter of play. In the second quarter, the Bison come to life with a run of their own. Marshfield was outscored in the quarter by 17-10. The game was tied with one minute left in the half. Keenan ran the clock down to the last few seconds and dished off but the shot fell short. Marshfield’s # 25 Utah Findley grabbed the rebound and hit the put back for the buzzer beater to take the lead into the halftime 23-21.
From that point on the game was a battle. Marshfield maintained their 2 point lead through the 3rd quarter and after 3 the score was 41-39 Blue Jays.
In the fourth, the tempo of the game shifted as both teams took care of every possession. Buffalo hit the first shot of the final quarter to tie up the game at 41. Keenan then broke the tie by hitting 2 free throws. The Jays then forced a turnover and sophomore Ty Diehl hit a 3, giving Marshfield a 5 point advantage 46-41. Buffalo fought back and the game was tied again at 49-49 with 2:05 on the clock. Marshfield took a 51-49 lead and again Buffalo answered making the score 51-51 with 21.8 seconds on the clock. Marshfield worked the ball past half court and called time out with 12.4 seconds in the game. The throw in went to Keenan who dribble drived and dished off to Jared Greenlee who hit the game winner with .4 on the clock. Buffalo called time out to set up a desperation shot that failed and the BLUE JAYS WERE CHAMPS!
Some of the stats for the game:
Charlie Williams scored 14 pts. – 7 rebounds – 2 blocks- and a steal.
Jared Greenlee scored 12 pts. – 2 rebounds – 1 block- and a steal.
Cameron Keenan scored 10 pts. – ran the point to perfection- was perfect from the free throw line 4-4 in the 4th quarter- had a rebound a steal- and the game winning assist.
Brady Taylor scored 6 pts.- had a board- and also was perfect from the line 2-2.
Scotty Ragsdale scored 4 pts. – hustled like crazy- was called for more fouls than he really had (4)- and was 2-3 from the line.
Ty Diehl scored 4 including a big 3 pointer in the 4th quarter- and had a steal.
Utah Findley scored 3 pts. with a steal, a block, and 2 rebounds.
Ethan Jernigan had a key rebound after Charlie Williams fouled out in the 4th quarter.
Dwayne McCroskey and Shaun Crawford also contributed even though I don’t have any stats recorded for them. I don’t usually keep assists.
Marshfield was 12 of 18 from the free throw line as a team. 67 %
Buffalo stayed in the game at the line hitting 20 of 32. 62.5 %
7 Jays scored and 10 played. Marshfield’s depth was the difference in the game.
Marshfield also had two named to the All Tournament Team: Utah Findley and Jared Greenlee.
Stockton won the 3rd place game 61-55 over Morrisville.
Walnut Grove won the 5th place game over Niangua 60-49.
Special thanks to Shelby Atkison for taking pictures.
