SCAA: Rebel guard climbs out of dog house, lifts squad to historic title

BLOOMFIELD – Midway through the fourth quarter of the Stoddard County Boy’s Basketball Tournament championship game on Friday at Bloomfield High School, Richland (Essex) junior point guard Hunter Sanders looked as if he would rather be anyplace else in the Bootheel than where he found himself.

However, his story wasn’t nearly finished being told, as he reversed his play, and that of his team, and the Rebels knocked off top-seed Puxico 72-65 to win their first title in the tourney since 1996.

Over several possessions, Sanders’ defensive effort lagged, as a 51-47 Rebel lead over top-seed Puxico morphed into a tie game at 51 with 4:38 remaining in the game.

Rebel coach Matt Cline called a 30-second timeout with 4:25 on the clock and spent the entire timeout lecturing Sanders, even to the point where the rest of the Rebel players had already walked back into position on the court, and Cline was STILL instructing Sanders.

“It was a talk about leadership,” Cline said. “There was a miscommunication between both of us.”

The coach’s words didn’t take hold, because on the ensuing Puxico offensive possession, Sanders got hung up on a screen, and to be fair, junior forward Tucker Hughes didn’t help Sanders by switching or extending on the screen, and Indian sophomore guard Jett Hancock got to the rim, but missed.

Cline had seen enough and subbed Sanders out and spent the next couple of Richland (Essex) possessions in Sanders’ face on the bench getting his point across even more clearly.

THIS time, the message was received.

Sanders re-entered the game with his team trailing 55-51, took a pass from Rebel junior forward Eric Williams, and buried it from the left wing, right in front of Cline and the Richland (Essex) bench for a 55-54 Indian margin.

Puxico hasn’t won 15 of 17 games this season for no reason, so it responded by getting baskets from sophomore guard Landan Burchard and senior forward Thomas Burch, as it led 59-54. However, Williams found Sanders again, this time from 23 feet straightaway, and he canned another long shot for a 59-57 score.

“If he is going to shoot it like that,” Cline said, “then I’ll tick him off every time.”

Puxico still led 63-59 with 1:41 on the clock when Sanders found Richland (Essex) sophomore forward Gary Tilley open for a 3-pointer, which trimmed the Rebel deficit to 63-62.

The Rebels forced a Puxico miss, which Sanders rebounded, and he hit Tilley again, who drew a foul.

Tilley’s free throws put the Rebels (15-4) ahead 64-63, and Cline’s kids would never trail again.

“We kind of got a little spastic (in the semifinal win over Woodland and the title game),” Cline said. “But when it really came down to the nitty-gritty, there they were.

“They played like they do every day in practice.”

Sanders made one more great play, as he broke the Indian pressure with 54 seconds left and hit a cutting Hughes on the baseline for an “and one,” which put the Rebels up 67-63.

“We did move,” Cline said of his team’s late play. “We did cut. We made (Puxico) come to us. We didn’t try to make extra passes and just went to the free-throw line.”

The Rebels shot 14 free throws in the final period and sank 11 of them (they were 15 of 21 on the night).

Puxico actually outshot Richland (Essex) 25 makes (on two-point shots) to 18, but the Rebels buried seven 3-pointers (against four from Puxico) and held a 15-3 free-throw advantage.

Richland (Essex) hadn’t played for an SCAA Tournament title since 2001, and the victory (15th) gave Cline’s team its most wins since the 2010 team finished 21-7.

“I thought there was a chance,” Cline said of his team achieving this success. “I’m not saying that I thought they would win, but these kids, when they were in the sixth and seventh grade, played for the conference championship.

“I thought there was a chance of them competing for this, either this year or next year.”

It was interesting that Richland (Essex) entered the tournament with four losses, and three of those were to Dexter, Woodland, and Puxico, each of whom it got revenge on in this week’s tournament.

Tilley paced his team with 27 points, 10 of which came in the final quarter, while Williams (13 points), Sanders (eight points), and Hughes (17 points) also contributed.

Burch finished with 24 points, with 10 in the final period, to lead the Indians while Scyler Zimmerman (12 points), and Burchard (11 points) also were productive.

Richland (Essex), which has now won seven consecutive games, will visit Clarkton (6-11) on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

Puxico will host Twin Rivers (9-10) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.