OFC TOURNAMENT: Bears punch out Royals, punch ticket to finals

GREENVILLE — It ultimately came down to one team making its shots and the other not being so lucky.

The top-seeded and state-ranked Greenville Bears found themselves in a battle with No. 4 seed Twin Rivers Tuesday night in an Ozark Foothills Conference tournament semifinal before they flexed their muscles and high IQ shooting prowess.

The Royals had plenty of good look too, but in the end the Bears were able to knock down more shots and a lethal transition game didn’t hurt as Greenville pulled away for a 66-48 victory.

The Bears were led by Ty Huffmaster and Trey Porter with 14 points apiece, while Easton Evans had 13 and Jeb Huff finished with 11.

“For us it comes down to confidence and game experience,“ Greenville head coach Nathan Walk said. “They’ve all played varsity for four years and so they’re battle tested. We’ve had heartaches fwhere we have given away games. They have learned and they are stepping up to the challenge.”

Greenville played shorthanded as they are trying to overcome one injury that left them with seven players heading in to this game, which also saw one of their post players come down hobbled.

Carter Williams had 12 points to pace Twin Rivers, while Colton Hargraves added 11.

“Obviously, Greenville is well coached, and they don’t get rattled,” Twin Rivers head coach, Seth McBroom said. “They played a lot of basketball together since they’ve been little and you have Nathan over here doing a good job putting them in the right spots. They are just clicking and I’m happy for Nathan and them. They are hard to play against, they can guard you and you can try to pressure them, but they are fast and stay under control. I am impressed with them.

“I love these kids and we have a good relationship, I didn’t question if they were going to compete tonight. I still feel like somebody punched me in the gut, but I’m very proud of the kids playing hard. I think we were just a little tight on our shots and our releases.”

Greenville now plays Doniphan in the title game 8:45 p.m. Friday at Three Rivers College. The third-place game will feature Twin Rivers and Clearwater 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Greenville High School.

The Royals set the tone early by not backing down to the Greenville post game and making it hard for the Bears to get up and down in transition and after exchanging some excellent offensive possessions the top seeds clung to a 13-12 lead after eight minutes.

The second quarter was more of the same as both teams definitely felt each other out trying to figure out the other’s weakness.

An and-one by Evans with 2:50 before half gave the Bears some breathing room to lead 24-16.

The lead puffed up to 13 points and the Bears eased into the intermission up 32-22.

The lead expanded into the mid teens after halftime but the Royals stayed plucky and narrowed the margin to 41-31 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Yet these Bears only bring good news to their fans and when Huff banged a triple late in the period the Greenville boys went back up 15 points.

“They know we beat them once before and the only way they’re gonna beat us is if they come in here and try to get in our head,” Huff said. “It’s all about composure and throughout the course of the game, I thought they lost some composure. We got the chemistry playing with the same guys andthe same coach for five years.“

That margin stayed static for the next few minutes as Evans and company continued to slice the Royals up in transition. Then Peyton Womble drilled a croissant buttery needle threader to Evans who scored, got fouled, and converted the free toss for a 55-37 Bears lead north of the 5-minute mark.

“We just use what they do to fuel what we do,” Greenville’s Carter Irions said. “It makes us want to win even more. Our practices are pretty competitive and our games are close. The stuff we do at practice is what we do out here all the time.“