C3D1: East Prairie plays hearts out in semifinal loss to Caruthersville

NEW MADRID, Mo. — East Prairie fought with everything it had until the final buzzer during an 84-80 loss to Caruthersville in a MSHSAA Class 3, District 1 Semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

The second-seeded Tigers (16-4) were led by Isaiah Rodgers and the sixth-seeded Eagles (20-8) were led by Wyatt Williams. Each finished the game with 34 points.

“We had a couple of spurts where we did a lot of things right,” said Caruthersville coach Lamont Bell. “But on the flip side, we’d make a nice run and then we’d come back and do two or three things that didn’t make a lot of sense. You can’t do that in this district. Who knows how this game would have done tonight if there were another 30 seconds? We can’t play like that. That’s not our style of basketball and why we’re the No. 2 seed. We’ve been playing good ball all year and it is like we’re loosening up right now. It’s not going to get us where we need to be.”

Caruthersville’s athleticism was overwhelming at the start, as the team built a 28-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. Rodgers contributed 10 points and Ty’Lan Golliday knocked down a 3-pointer in the final moments of the opening quarter.

The Eagles climbed back within single digits after Williams grabbed a steal and made a layup to make it 36-28 with two minutes and 54 seconds until halftime.

However, the Tigers were able to increase the lead to 17 at the break after some more strong plays from Rodgers, who scored 14 of the team’s final 18 points of the half.

East Prairie look much more comfortable in the second half, but still trailed 69-53 at the end of the third quarter.

The Eagles didn’t get back within single digits until Williams buried a 3-point shot with 41.4 seconds left in the game.

Williams and Connor Marcum each knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 82-77 with 15.6 seconds remaining.

The Tigers struggled from the free throw down the stretch, missing the front end of a couple of 1 -and-1 opportunities in the final minute, but Rodgers made two clutch shots from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 84-80 with 9.9 second left in the game.

The final score of the game came with 4.5 left when Marcum buried a deep 3-pointer.

“Our guys played their hearts out, especially in the second half,” said East Prairie coach Gary Scott. “We got down big in the first half and all you ask from your guys is to never give up. We played hard until the final buzzer and just ran out of time.”

The Eagles had a great season and finished with the third-most wins in a season in school history. The team will graduate some outstanding seniors, but also returns a solid core of young players.

“I’m so thankful for our seniors,” Scott said. “They’re a great group of young men who have won a lot of basketball games over the last couple of years. Besides winning, I think what I’ll remember most about them is how easy they are to coach. Each one of them is very coachable and very respectful. I’ve enjoyed them tremendously. They are high-character kids who will be successful from now moving forward. We’re definitely going to miss them next year.

“We expect to be very competitive next season,” he continued “We have some guys that are gonna play different roles next season and need to step up to the challenge.”

Class 3 No. 10 Caruthersville will face top-seeded and Class No. 4 New Madrid County Central (19-7) in the championship game on Friday at 6 p.m.

“If we don’t come ready to play it is going to get ugly and it's going to get ugly real fast,” Bell concluded. “NMCC is on a mission right now. We saw that tonight. They defended well and didn’t turn the ball over. They were aggressive and are the total package. We’re relaxing too much and it’s irking me badly. We can’t do that Friday. If we don’t come with some intensity and some dog then it is going to be a long time for us.”

__CARUTHERSVILLE 84, EAST PRAIRIE 80__

East Prairie 14 21 18 27 — 80

C’Ville 28 24 17 15 — 84

__East Prairie (80) —__ Wyatt Williams 34, Noah Johnson 24, Connor Marcum 15, Ty Wallace 7. FG: 29. FT: 19-23. F: 19. (3-pointers: Wallace 1, Marcum 1, Williams 1. Fouled out: none.)

__Caruthersville (84) —__ Isaiah Rodgers 34, Abeyou Motton 17, Jamonte Alexander 15, Lawrence Epkins 12, Ty’Lan Golliday 4, Sammy Bryant 2. FG: 36. FT: 10-16. F: 21. (3-pointers: Golliday 1, Alexander 1. Fouled out: Danny Ricks.)