Oak Ridge tops Chaffee for MVC tourney crown

GREENVILLE, Mo. -- With 2 minutes, 35 seconds left in the third quarter the Chaffee boys basketball team pulled even with Oak Ridge for the second time in the quarter after trailing for most of the game.

But whatever momentum the Red Devils' slow and steady comeback built quickly disappeared.

Oak Ridge's Kyle Rohde completed a conventional three-point play about 20 seconds later to give the Blue Jays a lead they never gave up on their way to a 67-47 win and the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament championship Wednesday night.

"We came in and we thought we were under-seeded as the fourth seed," Oak Ridge senior Brett Thomas said. "We came in and we wanted to prove a point, and I think we did."

Chaffee (12-11) turned the ball over five times between the time the tying shot went in and the end of the third quarter. They did not score during the span.

"A lot's not being in this situation before, playing in the big game knowing how to handle things like this," Chaffee coach Josh Govreau said. "The kids fought and got the lead back, and then once they did it was kind of like we panicked a little bit and thought we had to force it in there."

Oak Ridge (19-5), meanwhile, closed the quarter on a 9-0 run and never trailed by fewer than nine points in the fourth quarter.

"Our kids played hard," Govreau said. "I give Oak Ridge a lot of credit. They're playing well at the right time of the year like they're supposed to. It's more than just one person out there doing something. They've got a lot of people out there contributing, knocking down some shots."

The win was the second in row for Oak Ridge over Chaffee this season after losing to the Red Devils in the consolation final at the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament.

Oak Ridge beat the Red Devils 47-25 at its homecoming Friday night, knowing it would play Chaffee again for the conference title Wednesday after the finals were delayed almost two weeks due to winter weather.

"We knew that we weren't going to hold them to 25," Oak Ridge coach Adam Stoneking said. "They have too good of shooters to hold a team to 25 like that, so we knew they were going to make shots. But we really just wanted to come out and just really get in their face defensively and just not let anything be easy. If they got an open shot, we really wanted to make them work for it."

Chaffee trailed 16-8 after the first quarter and was 3 of 11 from the field, but the Red Devils cut the Blue Jays' lead to four before halftime.

"I watched the tape and we were just missing open shots Friday night, so I told them just be patient, if we get the ball to the high post good things are going to happen," Govreau said. "It's kind of the same thing in the first quarter. We came out and we were getting good shots again. We just weren't making them.

"I told them after the first quarter just be confident and keep playing. When Crowe hit a couple shots we fed off of that."

Alex Crowe scored a game-high 24 points for Chaffee, including two 3-pointers in the second quarter. Michael Rutherford finished with 16 points.

The second quarter was the only period in which Oak Ridge was outscored.

"We were missing shots -- that's plain and simple," Thomas said. "We missed about five, six shots within five feet and you can't do that in a big game like this. You're not going to get away with it. We were lucky we did."

Thomas finished with a triple-double. He scored 14 points to go along with 15 rebounds and 11 assists.

"That's what all big games are about," he said. "They're all about adjustments, game time adjustments that you have to push through. You know you're not going to have it all planned out perfect."

Kyle Rohde and Ryan Below, who were often the beneficiaries of Thomas' assists, both finished with 20 points for Oak Ridge. Below added 10 rebounds.

The Blue Jays claimed the tournament title after losing to Leopold in the championship game a season ago. They defeated Meadow Heights in the opening round before defeating Leopold and Chaffee -- two teams they'd lost to earlier in the season.

"I think on any given night any of the top five teams could have won this tournament, but we did so we're happy," Stoneking said. "We talked about that, about coming out and we knew we were going to be able to avenge two losses.

"The kids really set their minds to it. They came out focused and ready to play all three nights, and it's hard to do when you take two weeks off."

Chaffee 8 15 11 13 -- 47

Oak Ridge 16 11 16 24 -- 67

CHAFFEE (47) -- Alex Crowe 24, Michael Rutherford 16, Jason Cicardi 2, Jordan Yahn 1, Alex Davie 1, Andrew Terhune 3. FG 18, FT 5-16, F 17. (3-pointers: Crowe 4, Rutherford 2. Fouled out: none)

OAK RIDGE (67) -- Stephen Bolen 4, Caleb Elam 4, Jacob Light 5, Ryan Below 20, Kyle Rohde 20, Brett Thomas 14. (3-pointers: Rohde 2, Thomas 2. Fouled out: none)