Meadow Heights falls in Class 2 District 3 title game

BISMARCK, Mo — A distinct height disadvantage and suffocating defense already had the Meadow Heights boys basketball team fighting an uphill battle against top-seeded and state-ranked Ellington in the class 2 District 3 championship game Friday night.

The last thing the third-seeded Panthers needed was Whippets 6-foot-6 junior Wes Sharp to turn into “Wes the Sharpshooter.”

Meadow Heights ultimately was gunned down by Sharp and the Whippets, 72-37.

The point total was a season low for the Panthers, who had been held to less than 50 points on just two other occasions this season and averaged 77 points in their first two district wins, which included a thrilling 74-71 overtime upset of defending district champion Valle Catholic in the semifinals.

Sharp struck for all 16 of his points in the third quarter, knocking down all four of his 3-point attempts and going 4 of 4 from the free-thow line in a period in which the Whippets outscored the Panthers 24-9.

Meadow Heights Nick Mayfield tries to pass as Ellington's Marshon Morrisey defends during the third quarter of the Class 2 District 3 championship Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 in Bismarck, Missouri.Fred Lynch

The outburst came after Sharp picked up two fouls in the opening minutes of the game and found a seat near Whippets first-year coach Jeremy Peterson for the remainder of the half.

“He might have played a full two minutes in that first half,” Meadow Heights first-year coach Nick Hermann said. “And then second half, it was like a new kid came on the floor and all of sudden just lit it up. He’s a great ballplayer.”

It was a stark contrast to Sharp’s first half, where he misfired on all four of his shots before departing.

The start was part of an ideal scenario for an undersized Meadow Heights squad that topped out with 6-2 sophomore Lane Baremore.

“You don’t game plan for that,” Hermann said. “You can’t control what game officials are going to call, but we figured we could be in the game if we could get one or two of those big guys in foul trouble.”

The Panthers were threatening a second straight district upset early on when Baremore and senior Jacob Douglas connected on the Panthers’ first two 3-point attempts of the night for a 6-0 lead.

The Panthers held their biggest lead of the night at 10-3 after junior Devin Wilfong scored inside with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

Meadow Heights took a 10-9 lead into the second quarter despite six early offensive rebounds by the Whippets, who took 21 shots from the field in the period to just 12 for the Panthers. Two of Ellington’s four baskets in the opening eight minutes were on putbacks by 6-3 junior Marshon Morrisey, who finished with 17 points.

Panthers senior Nick Mayfield scored in the opening minute of the second quarter for a 12-9 advantage, but the Whippets moved ahead for good less than two minutes into the period with a 6-0 burst. A running bank shot from the right baseline by senior Shaun Chilton gave Ellington its first lead at 13-12 with 6:47 left in the first half. Chilton scored nine of his game-high 21 points in the period, including a 3-pointer with 1:32 left in the half that gave the Whippets a seven-point lead, 24-17, their biggest of the half.

Meadow Heights committed nine of its 13 turnovers in the game and shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half but trailed just 26-20 at intermission.

Douglas, a four-year starter at point guard, had 10 of his team-high 20 points at halftime.

“It started out a lot better than I thought it would,” said Douglas, a four-year starter at point guard who had eight of the Panthers’ 14 field goals on the night. “The first half was a pretty good game.”

He said Hermann’s advice at halftime was to keep playing hard and maybe the favored Whippets would begin to buckle under the pressure of high expectations.

“Our boys wanted to win this game,” Hermann said. “We came out playing like we wanted to win. We played hard, but you have to give it to coach Peterson and his crew — they’re a great team. I knew we were going to have our hands full. We hung with them for a half and a few minutes, and then ... this happens when you play great teams. They eventually figure out what to do, and hopefully one day we get there.”

Baremore, who finished with 10 points, scored the first basket of the third quarter to cut the gap to four points, 26-22, but an open 10-footer by Jacob Richards off a pass from Morrisey with 6:51 left in the period marked the start of a 22-2 run by the Whippets.

After Morrisey upped the lead to 30-22 with a drive in the lane, Sharp launched his shooting display with a 3-pointer from the right side of the key at the 5:25 mark.

“We went the entire second quarter without him, and obviously he come back and made a huge statement in the third and fourth,” Peterson said.

Baremore countered with a 15-footer for the Panthers’ lone basket during the run, but Sharp responded with 3-pointers on the Whippets’ next two possessions to open a 15-point lead, 39-24, with 3:48 left in the period. It was part of a 18-0 run that was capped by a Sharp 3-pointer. When the basket cut through the twine at the 1:57 mark, Ellington had doubled up on Meadow Heights at 48-24.

“It’s just the greatest feeling in the world when the ball just keeps going through the net like that,” Sharp said. “It gets the rest of my team fired up and then I can get that ball fake in there and everyone starts jumping ... it’s just a great feeling, man, to get my teammates involved.”

Sharp also had one of the Whippets’ three blocked shots in the third quarter. Ellington players blocked seven shots on the night and held the Panthers to 32 percent shooting from the field.

“We really utilized our size tonight,” Sharp said. “I think Meadow Heights had one 6-1 guy, maybe two, and they were all guards.”

Four of Ellington’s starters were at least 6-2.

“It was tough,” Douglas said. “I think their shortest person was taller than us.”

“Its hard to coach against height if you don’t really have it,” Hermann said. “We try to play fundamentally the best we can. We thought maybe if we pump faked and got them off their feet, but they stayed flat and put their hands up. They played good defense.”

Ellington shot 70 percent from the field (17 of 24) and 67 percent (4 of 6) from 3-point in the second half after shooting 29 percent (10 of 34) and 20 percent (2 of 10), respectively, in the first half.

The Whippets took a 50-29 lead into the fourth quarter, where they started a running clock on the Panthers on the way to their first district title since 1991.

Meadow Heights finished its season at 17-8.

“We battled all year,” Hermann said. “We dealt with injures throughout and a coaching change. There was just a ton of stuff for one team to make it this far. It shows our leadership. It shows our kids are willing to put in the work to get to this point. I told them after the game we have to put in extra work if we want to get back here next year.”

Ellington 72, Meadow Heights 37

Meadow Hts. 10 10 9 8 -- 37

Ellington 9 17 24 22 -- 72

MEADOW HEIGHTS (37) -- Jacob Douglas 20, Blake Bollinger 2, Lane Baremore 10, Devin Wilfong 2, Nick Mayfield 3. FG 14, FT 4-6, F 19 (3-pointers: Douglas 4, Baremore. Fouled out: Douglas)

ELLINGTON (72) -- Shaun Chilton 21, Devonte Miller 3, Justin Tripp 3, Jacob Richards 10, Garrett Copeland 2, Wes Sharp 16, Marshon Morrisey 17. FG 27, FT 12-16, F 11 (3-pointers: Chilton, Miller, Sharp 4. Fouled out: none)