By DONN ADAMSON\Daily Journal Sports Editor

Published: Friday, March 10, 2006
Updated: Friday, March 10, 2006 11:42 AM CST

WEST PLAINS - Thursday night the Mineral Area Cardinals clinched their first Region 16 Tournament championship since 1997, and they had to really earn it. The Cardinals had only defeated the West Plains Grizzlies once on the Grizzlies court in the 13 years of West Plains' existence, which took place earlier this year in quadruple overtime.

For most of the second half, it looked to be West Plains ball game, but Mineral Area kept coming back again and again until finally they got the opportunity to go ahead for good and they did just that for a 76-75 win.

“We had to earn it tonight,” said MAC head coach Corey Tate in reference to their 21-point win on Tuesday. “We just persevered.”

The Cardinals had won the first game of the best two-out-of-three series on their own court on Tuesday, and will now advance to play the Region 24 winner (to be determined tonight) this upcoming Tuesday. Mineral Area is currnetly ranked 13th in the nation.

The game was settled virtually at the free-throw line with the help of some excellent, offensive rebounding by the Cardinals. With 22 seconds on the clock West Plains had a one-point lead, and the ball, forcing the Cardinals to foul. The Grizzlies missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving MAC plenty of time to score the last shot.

The Cardinals missed, but Darryl Butterfield kept the ball alive with an offensive board, and the Cardinals called time-out with 6.4 on the clock. Coach Tate called time to set up the last play, but upon returning to the court, West Plains coach Brian Ostermann called time to set up his defense.

Mineral Area missed their shot again, but this time it would be Rickey Claitt who saved the ball with a weakside rebound and he attempted to put it back up, but a Grizzly defender, trying to make sure it did not go in, hammered Claitt, sending him crashing to the floor with 2.2 seconds left in the game.

Claitt was unable to shoot the free throws, so Coach Tate had Ralph Mata come off the bench to take the shots. Mata had not scored a point in the game up to that moment, but he stepped up big by sinking the first one to tie the game, using a little kiss off the glass to help the ball fall through.

“It was one teammate picking up another teammate,” said Coach Tate of Mata's stepping into the limelight.

West Plains called time to try and ice Mata, but the sophomore guard swished the net with his second shot for the lead.

On the inbounds, the Grizzlies big man, 7'0” David Collins, threw a long pass downcourt which the Cardinals knocked out of bounds. It gave the ball to the Grizzlies under their own basket with 1.8 seconds on the clock, but their attempt at a rushed shot was off the mark, and the Cardinals, their coaches and fans went ballistic in celebration as the buzzer sounded.

West Plains was back on the mark with their three-point shooting, making 15 on the night out of 36 attempts. Ronald White led the way for the Grizzlies, making six off his eight attempts, but Mineral Area's Willie Hassell kept the Cardinals in the hunt, making 5-7 from beyond the arc.

The game appeared to be three-point, shoot-out at the start with Hassell making his first two to give the Cardinals a 15-13 lead with only five minutes gone off the clock. After the teams locked up at 23-23, West Plains ‘Region 16 Player of the Year', Tyrone Brazelton, broke the tie with a three-pointer, but Toy Webb matched it on the other end for Mineral Area.

Most of the game would be just like that. When one team would score or make a small run, the other team would match it with one of their own.

The game was tied again at 28-28, and the two teams went into a turnover format for a good stretch in the middle of the first half.

Butterfield picked up the slack for Mineral Area as he, time and time again, either hit from outside or took his defender to the hole for the lay-in. Butterfield scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half. Ronald White took an inbound pass and scored an easy basket at the end of the half to give the Grizzlies a two-point lead, 45-43, going into the locker room.

The Cardinals scored the first six points of the second half to gain their largest lead, but West Plains again went to the three-ball to not only retake the lead but go up by seven, which would be their biggest margin, 60-53.

However, MAC capitalized on three straight turnovers by the Grizzlies, and scored seven points of their own. White followed with his fifth and sixth three-pointers, but Hassell scored his fifth in answer. The Cardinals went into a chill at the free throw line missing 7-8 over one stretch, and enabling the Grizzlies to open their lead a bit.

Henderson kept the Cardinals somewhat close with a conventional three, but West Plains was able to keep two possessions ahead going into the final minutes of play.

Coach Tate called time after a series of turnovers left his team still trailing by four. Henderson answered the call with his only three-pointer to make it a one-point game, but Brazelton scored the next four points to put the home team up by five.

Henderson again tried to close the gap with a three-pointer, but was fouled and had to do it the hard way by making all three free-throws for a 75-73 score with 1:35 left.

Henderson led the team in scoring with 18 points and Hassell had 17. Brazelton led the Grizzlies with 25 points and White had 22.

Both teams played a very aggressive, physical game with bodies hitting the floor on nearly every rebound. Earlier a double technical had been called due to players taking offense to some of the hard hitting.

West Plains had a chance to put the game away with 1:10 left and a two-point lead. The Grizzlies worked the shot clock down to 10 seconds and took a time-out to set up a scoring play. The play nearly worked with a kick-out to the wing, but a high-leaping Henderson blocked the shot and then fed the ball back to a teammate.

The Cardinals made one of two-free-throws to cut the lead in half, and matching turnovers set up the last free-throw attempt by the Grizzlies.

Coach Tate is in his second year of being head coach and has already won a Region 16 Tournament which he credits to, “I was paying a lot of attention to Coach (Tim) Gray. He showed me how. Half of this (the title) belongs to him,” said Tate, who had served under Gray as his assistant for two years. Gray is now the athletic director at MAC.

Butterfield led the team in rebounds with eight, and MAC won the contest on the boards 46 to West Plains 29. MAC shot 49.1 percent from the floor and 55.6 at the line, West Plains was 40.3 from the floor and 83.3 from the line.

Mineral Area 43-33 - 76

West Plains 45 30 - 75

Mineral Area - Henderson 18, Hassell 17, Butterfield 13, Britton 8, Webb 6, Wilkerson 5, Muse 3, Mata 2, Hicks 2, Claitt 2.

West Plains - Brazelton 25, White 22, Robinson 7, Collins 6, Boyd 6, Love 3, McLawhorn 3, Williams 3.

3-Pointers: White 6, Hassell 5, Brazelton 3, Boyd 2, Webb, Henderson, Robinson, Love, Williams, McLawhorn.