SCAA: Rebels get past Cardinals in dramatic, final moments for shot at title

BLOOMFIELD – When Woodland High School sophomore guard Korbin Kinder rose for a game-tying 3-point shot in the final seconds, fifth-year Richland (Essex) boy’s basketball coach Matt Cline clutched his bottle of Diet Mt. Dew a little tighter.

“I thought it was going in,” Cline said.

Kinder’s shot was right on mark, but way short, which left the Cardinals scrambling, and eventually succumbing 65-63 in a championship semifinal game of the Stoddard County Tournament at Bloomfield High School.

The Rebels (14-4) will play top-seed Puxico (15-1) today at 8:30 p.m. for their first title since beating Dexter 80-72 in 1996.

“It means a lot,” Cline said of the opportunity for a championship.

Richland (Essex) hasn’t played for the title since 2001 when it lost to Dexter 77-40.

“The year 2001 sounds familiar,” Cline said, “because we hadn’t won a District since 2001, but we remedied that last year.”

With 60 seconds to go in Thursday’s game, it appeared as though Woodland (10-4) might pull the win out.

Richland (Essex) held a 3-point lead but turned it over. Moments later, Cardinal senior Brayden Hastings drove baseline and kicked a pass to senior guard Reed Layton, who buried the game-tying shot with 41 seconds on the clock.

Undeterred, Rebel junior guard Hunter Sanders drove baseline at the other end to put his team up two with 20 seconds remaining.

“When Woodland sped us up (offensively),” Cline said, “I didn’t like the way we reacted to that, at all.”

Hastings was thisclose to making a spectacular play with 11 seconds left, as he laid the ball up on a drive, only to be fouled. The ball, however, rolled around the rim as the crowd envisioned an “and one” being called, but it dropped off to the side.

Hastings trimmed the Rebel lead to one, but after a quick foul of Richland (Essex) sophomore Gary Tilley, who buried both free throws, its lead was back to three.

Woodland had one final look to tie the game, as Kinder drew a foul, which Cline had his team commit intentionally, near mid-court with less than a second remaining.

Kinder hit one free throw and intentionally missed the second, but Rebel post Jacob Walley grabbed the board to finish the game.

“This team has not been through that (situation),” Cline said. “Even though they have been varsity age a long time, they are still not a very old bunch.”

The loss sent Woodland coach Shawn Kinder into an emotional spiral downward. Thirty minutes after the game, he was still sitting in the Cardinal locker room with his head in his hands.

“Woodland has never won a Stoddard County varsity tournament,” Kinder said. “We had set goals for the year, and this was one of our goals.”

The Rebels were led by junior forward Tucker Hughes, who tallied 22 points while Eric Williams (10 points), Sanders (13 points), and Tilley (16 points) were all productive.

Richland (Essex) somehow managed to win the game despite missing 11 of its 25 free throws and allowing Cardinal shooters to bury eight 3-pointers.

Woodland got 21 points from junior point guard Lane Lee while Hastings and Kinder had 13 points apiece.

The Cardinals move on to face Bloomfield (7-9) in the third-place game today at 5:30 p.m.