SportsDecember 6, 2014
Reynold's long 3 gives Woodland boys basketball team its tournament championship
The senior sank a deep 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals a 61-58 victory over Scott City.
MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Scott City boys basketball team only led twice in the Woodland Invitational Tournament title game, and found itself in a 13-point hole heading into the fourth quarter against the host Cardinals on Friday night.
But as the clock slowly ticked away, none of that seemed to matter to the Rams.
Second-seeded Scott City went on a 27-14 run in the fourth and suddenly found itself in a tie game with top-seeded Woodland with 12 seconds remaining in the game.
After a Woodland timeout, Scott City's chances of taking a third and final lead slipped in and out of the hands of Brock Uelsmann.
The senior appeared to intercept a pass and had the ball in his hands for a split second. After a fight for the ball at the three-point line, and just before Uelsmann could control the ball, it bounced away and into the hands of Woodland's Jake Long. The guard picked up the ball and found his teammate, Garret Reynolds.
Reynolds caught the pass and without hesitation sank a deep 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Reynolds' shot held up as the game-winner for the Cardinals, who claimed the tournament championship with a 61-58 win over Scott City.
Reynolds said he had been having an off night up until that point. The senior had made just 4 of 16 (25 percent) field goals and five free throws, but he was more than happy to hit the shot that mattered most for his team.
"My plan was to get the ball and attack, try and get to the free-throw line with about as little time as possible," Reynolds said. "But it ended up that the pass got tipped, deflected and Jake Long got the ball, ended up getting it to me and I shot a shot and thank the good Lord, it went in. I like the big shots. I like being that clutch player."
Uelsmann said he had never been in a more important fight for the ball and had little time to react.
"I tried to come up with it and it just bounced away," Uelsmann said. "For a minute it was there and I thought I had it but obviously not."
Scott City (2-1) had four steals in the final quarter and converted six points off of those Woodland miscues.
Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said he had a clear view of the scrum for the ball and would have liked for the Rams to come up with one more steal.
"It's one of them plays where [it was] kind of like it was in slow motion," Dannenmueller said. "We stole it, I thought we had it and I tried to scream time out and then we lost it. Both teams did a good job of hustling after it. They had a player, we had a player diving on the floor for the ball and it just found Reynolds. ... As soon as he let go of it, I had a vantage point right behind him and it looked good as soon as he let it go, and I just hoped and prayed it wouldn't go in. It's really tough for our kids to fight as hard as they did and to be right there and then for something like that to happen. I mean, sometimes it's just that way. It sounds cliche, but sometimes the ball just bounces the right way for you."
Neither team got much separation in the first half. Woodland led 17-14 after the first quarter, thanks to six points from a junior Zach Beel and two free throws from Long to close out the quarter.
The Cardinals outscored the Rams 10-9 in the second quarter. Reynolds' first 3-pointer of the game with 1:05 to play in the half gave Woodland a five-point lead.
Woodland (3-0) opened up its lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Rams 17-8.
Dannenmueller said missed free throws prevented Scott City from staying with the Cardinals for most of the game and ultimately completing the comeback.
"We missed a lot of the front end of one-and-ones," Dannenmueller said. "I know just off the top of my head we probably had five or six that we missed. Free throws don't win you the whole game, but they win you the close ones. If I'm going to be honest with you, we haven't shot enough free throws in practice at game speed to try and simulate high pressure, and that's completely on me."
Scott City (2-1) scored six points on its first three possessions of the final quarter, cutting the lead to 44-37 with 7:25 remaining in the game.
However, Woodland went on a 7-4 run to hold a 10-point lead with 4:05 remaining, but Dannenmueller said he never counted his team out. Scott City scored 10 points in 57 seconds and pulled to within two points at 53-51 with 3:10 to play.
"I knew if we could just make a few shots and get into our press we would be OK," Dannenmueller said. "Honestly, I thought they were tired in the fourth quarter, and I don't think we were. The thing about a press is, a lot of people think you're just supposed to get steals out of it all the time, but you run a press to wear a team down as well, and I thought in that fourth quarter they looked like they were a little worn out and they started making lazy passes. We were able to pick off some passes and be right there. It was just energy. The kids did a great job."
First-year Woodland coach Logan Nutt agreed. He said his team was tired and that they had also not been in high-pressure situation games.
"We work on just general offensive and defensive strategies every day and situations are what we'll need to be getting in order to be successful further down the road," Nutt said. "But our guys did pretty well for not doing many situational things. They made a lot of mistakes, but that happens. And to me, that was our first real situational practice."
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
Reynolds hit a free throw to extend the lead to 54-51, but with 2:20 remaining, Dylan Keller answered for the Rams with a short-range jump shot.
Long drove to the rim and hit a layup for Woodland just 10 seconds later to extend the lead.
Michael McCormick added two free throws for Woodland on the Cardinals next possession.
Keller added one free throw and Braden Cox hit four free throws in the final 1:22. Cox's final two free throws tied the game 58-58 in the final minute of the game.
Reynolds' hit the game winning 3, and after a Scott City timeout Keller attempted a cross court shot that hit a rafter and landed wide of the basket.
Zach Beel had a game-high 20 points to lead Woodland. McCormick added 13 points and Reynolds netted 12 points.
Uelsmann paced the Rams with 16 points and Cox added 14 points in the loss.
Reynolds said there has been a lot of hype for the Cardinals early this season and after two big wins, Woodland needed a bit of a wake up call.
"I almost think it kind of grounds us a little bit," Reynolds said. "We win pretty big the first two games, but this was pretty good practice for us. We got big close-game experience, which will be critical down the stretch this season. Up by 13 we've got to be more smart, be more calm and play pressure-oriented. We can't let teams come back like that, but I'm glad we still ended up pulling it out."
Scott City 14 9 8 27 -- 58
Woodland 17 10 17 17 -- 61
Scott City (58) -- Brock Uelsmann 16, Braden Cox 14, Dylan Keller 12, Trent Pobst 8, Jordan Kluesner 6, Isiah Berry 2. FG 19, FT 17-25, F 17. (3-pointers: Cox 2, Keller 1. Fouled out: None)
Woodland (61) -- Zach Beel 20, Michael McCormick 13, Garret Reynolds 12, Jake Long 6, Cole Sclief 5, Evan Grindstaff 3, Devon Gramlisch 2. FG 23, FT 11-17, F 27. (3-pointers: Reynolds 2, Grindstaff, McCormick 1. Fouled out: Gramlisch)
Perryville 66, Meadow Heights 46
Third-seeded Perryville took a 16-point lead in to the second half and cruised to a 20-point victory over fourth-seeded Meadow Heights in the third-place game.
The Pirates trailed by four points after one quarter of play, but bounced back in the second quarter, outscoring the Panthers 22-2 on their way to a win.
Meadow Heights missed its first four shots of the second quarter and turned the ball over on the following three possessions.
The Panthers finished with 25 turnovers.
Eli Tripp scored a game-high 22 points to lead Perryville (2-1). Conner Stark added 11 points, while Nathan Noland contributed 9.
Jacob Hunt scored 12 points to pace Meadow Heights (4-2). Tyler Cook netted 11 and Jacob Douglas and Justin McGuire each tacked on nine.
Perryville 9 22 15 20 -- 66
Meadow Heights 13 2 15 16 -- 46
Perryville (66) -- Eli Tripp 22, Conner Stark 11, Nathan Noland 9, Garrett Johnson 6, McGwire Bartley 6, Collin Stief 5, Jaacob Robinson 2, Matt Moran 2, Luke Schlichting 2. FG 28, FT 7-12, F 13. (3-pointers: Stark 2. Fouled out: None)
Meadow Heights (46) -- Jacob Hunt 12, Tyler Cook 11, Jacob Douglas 9, Justin McGuire 9, Lane Baremore 3, Brendan Welker 2. FG 18, FT 5-8, F 14. (3-pointers: Hunt 2, Baremore, McGuire, Douglas 1. Fouled out: Hunt)
Story Tags
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.
Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
