Knights reign supreme after Blackcats collapse

By MATT KING/Daily Journal Sports Writer

PARK HILLS - The Farmington Knights proved without a doubt on Saturday night that they are still the class of the MAAA Conference, adding a tournament title to their already secured Large-School division championship.

Farmington withstood an early three-point barrage by the upstart Fredericktown Blackcats, then watched their challengers suffer a monumental meltdown for a 47-32 victory in front of a near-capacity crowd at Mineral Area College.

A series of missed layups plagued the Knights (15-9) early on, as the patient Blackcats received three-pointers from Jake Clauser, Dustin Bess and Mike Francis in the first quarter to take an 11-7 lead.

Francis opened the second quarter with another triple to spark a 7-0 run for Fredericktown which created a double-digit margin, but things suddenly hit rock bottom from there for the third-seeded Blackcats, who would tally just one field goal in a span of 18:11.

With their starting point guard resting on the bench, Fredericktown (14-10) lost its composure and began committing repeated turnovers, and could not recover until the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Dwayne Glaspy sparked the Knights with an offensive putback. Travis Ribbing and Parks Peterson each followed with fast-break layups, and Jake Baechle nailed a three-pointer just before halftime to cut the Fredericktown lead to 20-19.

For the Blackcats, the loss eerily resembled the regular-season battle between the two squads on January 13, which saw the Knights quickly erase a halftime deficit to prevail on the road.

Nearly three minutes of scoreless action opened the third quarter, but the Knights would eventually surge ahead with a decisive 14-0 run, consisting mostly of transition baskets resulting from careless ball-handling.

Baechle made the score 30-20 with a fading baseline jumper, and Matt Usherwood caught a high lob pass to score on the ensuing Farmington possession.

Fredericktown picked up its lone point of the stanza on a Ryan Sawyer free throw, and trailed 33-21 entering the fourth.

Usherwood made a steal and layup to continue the pull-away, and Collin Berry finished an excellent bounce pass from Glaspy to make it 39-22. A putback by Jerod Williams finally ended the long field goal drought for the Blackcats, who ended the night with 19 turnovers.

Baechle led all scorers with 15 points and Usherwood added nine for Farmington. Francis tallied nine points for Fredericktown, and Sawyer knocked down a pair of late triples to finish with seven.

Fredericktown 11 9 1 11 - 32

Farmington 7 12 14 14 - 47

SCORING:

Fredericktown - Francis 9, Sawyer 7, Clauser 5, Bess 3, Skaggs 2, Williams 2, Stapfer 2, Hawkins 2.

Farmington - Baechle 15, Usherwood 9, Peterson 7, Dw Glaspy 5, Ribbing 4, Berry 3, Taylor 2, Massie 2.

3-point FG - Francis 2, Sawyer 2, Baechle, Bess, Clauser.

THIRD PLACE GAME

North County 57, Potosi 52

PARK HILLS - The North County Raiders survived a late surge by the resilient Potosi Trojans to win the third place game of the MAAA Conference Tournament, 57-52 on Saturday.

North County (14-10) threatened to pull away in the fourth quarter when back-to-back three-pointers by Matt Thompson and Nick Counts produced a 46-33 lead. However, the Raiders committed a flurry of turnovers to leave the door open for a Trojan comeback.

Potosi (12-11) pulled to within eight on a transition jumper by Joe Douthit, and a banked three-pointer by Kevin Brown with 51 seconds left cut the deficit to 50-47. A long outlet pass to Counts extended the margin to five for the Raiders, but Brown made three free throws after drawing a foul beyond the arc to make it 54-52.

Thompson made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left, leaving the Trojans one last shot to draw even, but a three-point attempt by Brown was partially blocked.

Thompson hit four three-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points, while Counts added 16 points in the victory for North County. Brown paced Potosi with 14 points, and Brandon Casey chipped in 10 points and four steals.

North County knocked down a series of short jumpers to build a healthy 12-3 lead after one quarter. Despite coming up empty on eight field goal attempts in the opening period, Potosi stormed back before halftime.

Casey cashed two steals into baskets, and Tim Pashia followed a three-pointer with a fast-break layup to cut the North County advantage to 23-20 at the intermission.

Tyler Beers buried a jumper and coasted in for a layup on two midcourt steals to give the Raiders some early momentum in the third quarter, but Potosi countered with a 7-0 run to grab its first lead at 29-28 on a mid-range jumper by Brown.

Thompson put North County back in front with his third triple of the night, and a jumper by C.J. Peterson restored a 40-32 lead entering the final stanza.

Both teams were solid at the free-throw line. Potosi finished 17-23, and North County was 15-23.

Potosi 3 17 12 20 - 52

North County 12 11 17 17 - 57

SCORING:

Potosi - K Brown 14, Casey 10, Douthit 8, Pashia 8, J Brown 7, Politte 3, Coleman 2.

North County - Thompson 18, Counts 16, Beers 9, Peterson 7, Schwartz 5, Ketcherside 2.

3-point FG - Thompson 4, Counts 2, K Brown 2, Pashia 2, Politte.