OFC TOURNAMENT: Doniphan dominates upset-minded Tigers to earn title shot

GREENVILLE — The No. 2 seeded Doniphan Dons came out strong and put a chokehold on any ideas of a second straight upset by the Clearwater Tigers, cruising to a 79-59 win over the No. 6 seeded Tigers in Tueday’s second semifinal contest at the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament.

Doniphan was led by Emmitt Jones (31 points), Max Owen (16) and Kam Barton (10).

“One of our good players got two fouls early (Owen) and I knew I could score of the ball,” Jones said. “I feel like I’m pretty confident and I just had to do what I had to do tonight and do whatever I could to help our team out.

“We started off the season fairly well, and then we had a cold spot, but we started drilling really hard, and it all starts in practice. We’ve been taking it to the next level anyway we could.”

Clearwater, which had upset No. 3 Neelyville in Saturday’s quarterfinal round, was led by Charles Robbins (27 points) and Keegan Garcey (16).

“We just had way too many turnovers this game, and we played at a pace that was kind of fast,” Clearwater head coach Zac Moore said. “We really thought we were gonna be with them there especially early when Max got in foul trouble. Of course, that’s when they went on their run.

“We weren’t even supposed to be here and we were playing with house money. We still have a chance on Thursday to get third so to jump from the sixth seed to the third seed would be pretty good.”

The Dons came out storming behind a strong first 16 minutes as they combined an inside-out approach of success and the induced Clearwater into a plethora of turnovers and misses.

The result was a dominant 45-24 lead, but not before struggling through a first quarter that saw the Tigers stay close, trailing 20-16.

“I didn’t think we came out ready to play defense in the first quarter,“ Doniphan head coach Daniel Cagle said. “We gave up way too many points in the first quarter. We usually don’t give up 16 points in a quarter. I told him to lock up defensively and start getting after it the second and third quarter combined. I don’t think they had many points at all.

“Offensively we are starting to figure out how to run all fence against the box-and-one cause we’re seeing it all the time versus Max and we executed the gameplan to perfection tonight.”

The bleeding didn’t stop after halftime as Doniphan continued to dominate on both sides of the floor to take a 60-27 lead just over five minutes after halftime.

Doniphan led 62-35 heading into the final quarter.