Memorable Oak Ridge season ends against Bernie in district title game

ORAN, Mo. -- Oak Ridge kept hanging around in Thursday's Class 2 District 3 title game.

Bernie made runs but couldn't put away the pesky Blue Jays.

Oak Ridge worked for two great looks at 3-pointers to tie the game in the closing seconds but neither one would fall, and the Mules ended Oak Ridge's season with a 64-58 victory.

"It seemed like every time we got it within getting the lead, they hit a 3 or knocked down a couple free throws," Oak Ridge junior Brett Thomas said.

Oak Ridge pulled within a point on a pair of free throws by Logan Mangels with 58.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But Jake Welch answered by hitting a pair to give the Mules a 61-58 lead with 49.5 seconds left. Oak Ridge worked the ball across mid court and called timeout.

"We were going to run Brett off a triple screen and then have Caleb [Elam] pop back up to the top of the key," Oak Ridge coach Adam Stoneking said. "We weren't necessarily looking for the 3. I said if you feel like you can hit it and you're there, shoot it. But if he overplays, go to the basket and we'll look to get a basket and a foul."

Thomas shook his defender and gained a little separation. He wasted no time hoisting the potential game-tying 3 from in front of his bench, but it hit the rim and bounced away.

"Coach told me to hit it if I was open," Thomas said. "I just missed it. It just makes me think what if, what if you would have took that extra 100 shots in the morning or something like that to knock it down."

Thomas hit a 3-pointer and drew contact for a foul earlier in the game. He converted that four-point play, but he said he wasn't trying to draw contact on his final 3-point attempt.

"No funny business, just knock the shot down," Thomas said. "I've been hitting them pretty good lately so I just wanted to knock it down, but it didn't fall."

Bernie grabbed the rebound and Welch was fouled and stepped to the line with a chance to ice the game. But Welch clanked both attempts with 23.2 seconds left, giving the Blue Jays another shot to pull even with a 3-pointer.

This time it was Oak Ridge senior Garret Light who answered the call. He earned a good look from about midway between the corner and top of the key, but his attempt failed to hit the rim.

"I thought it was good out of my hand," Light said. "It just fell short. I didn't have the legs to finish it."

Bernie senior Jacob Owens immediately was fouled and swished both free throws to give the Mules a 63-58 lead with 13.2 seconds left.

"I knew if I missed it, they still got a chance," Owens said. "If I make it then my senior year keeps going on."

Stoneking said he had no problem with the two 3-point attempts his leading scorers took at the end of the game.

"You can't blame one shot," Stoneking said. "That one shot's not the reason we lost. If you make it, it's great. If you miss it, we move on."

Bernie threatened to blow open the contest early as it came out firing from long range. The Mules scored the first nine points, all on 3-pointers, but that was the biggest lead the Mules gained all evening. Oak Ridge answered that run by scoring the next 10 points for its only lead of the game.

Bernie opened a 50-42 lead with 2:44 left in the third, but Oak Ridge cut the deficit to 52-48 entering the final quarter. The Mules scored the first third three points of the fourth, but Thomas quelled the run with a 3-pointer and Light drained a triple less than two minutes later to cut the Blue Jays' deficit to 57-55. But Oak Ridge never could get over the hump.

"We'd have to work extra hard during those surges," Light said. "We already were working really, really hard. We'd get a run on them and we'd wear out and they'd take advantage of it."

Oak Ridge only turned over the ball 12 times, but Bernie's defense harassed the Blue Jays all night. Oak Ridge shot 37 percent (19 of 51) from the field.

"It's kind of like Meadow Heights' defense," Elam said. "If you're used to it, you know what you're doing, you've got to slow down and guard that ball. If you're not used to it, it's horrible to play against because you don't even know what to do against it."

The loss ended Oak Ridge's memorable season, which saw the Blue Jays finish 22-5 and win the early season Woodland tournament.

"I can't say enough about how they battled against us," Owens said.

Oak Ridge 14 17 17 10 -- 58

Bernie 19 17 16 12 -- 64

OAK RIDGE (58) -- Caleb Elam 19, Jacob Light 2, Garret Light 10, Brett Thomas 18, Logan Mangels 9. FG 19, FT 12-14, F 18. (3-pointers: Elam 2, G. Light 1, Thomas 4, Mangels 1. Fouled out: Stephen Bolen, Thomas)

BERNIE (64) -- Jake Welch 10, Jacob Owens 14, Sammy Walker 2, Jake Smith 15, Jordan McGowan 23. FG 21, FT 16-23, F 16. (3-pointers: Owens 3, McGowan 3. Fouled out: none)