Webb City boys advance to semis

March 02, 2008 01:03 am

— SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Webb City’s boys, repulsing a strong comeback by Clinton in the fourth quarter, prevailed 65-56 on Saturday in a boys quarterfinal of the Missouri Class 4A Tournament.
Webb City, leading by just two points at 52-50 after a Clinton free throw at 3:39, dominated down the stretch.
Alan Pink scored inside to make it 54-40. Caleb Powell made it 57-50 with a 3-point play at 1:38. Powell scored again at 1:24 before dunk by Chance Sossamon, nullifying a Clinton charity, made it 61-51 at 55.2.
Trent Buckner rallied Clinton with a trey before Trey Laveroni’s third dunk of the contest made it 63-54 with just 33.1 left.
The third-ranked Cardinals (25-4) will send coach Eric Johnson to Columbia for the third time in 24 years at the helm. Johnson, who recently announced he was stepping down after this season, won the Class 3A title in 1997 and was third in 3A in 1998.
Webb City will face top-ranked St. Charles West at 2 p.m. on Friday in Mizzou Arena. St. Charles West (29-1) trimmed McCluer South-Berkeley 48-36 in another quarterfinal.
Clinton, ranked fifth and denied its first semifinal appearance since 1950, finished 23-5 under Mike Elliott.
Webb City opened with a flourish in Hammons Center at Missouri State and, capped by the first of three dunks by Laveroni, built a 15-6 lead before Clinton settled down.
The Cardinals also opened the second half with a flurry to build a 12-point lead at 41-29. But this time Buckner fueled a Clinton comeback and the clash of Cardinals was close most of the time until the closing minutes.
Said Johnson: “We expected a tough game. Clinton is patient and doesn’t make that many mistakes. They were credited with 13 turnovers and I’m surprised it was that many.
“Clinton took advantage of some of our defensive breakdowns and ill-advised shooting,” Johnson said. “But you don’t change your game at this point in the season.
“We had, again, a balanced scoring attack,” Johnson said. “Landon (Zerkel) had just five points but nine assists. To me, that’s 18 more points.”
Said Webb City assistant Dusty Allen: “We certainly can play better. But we don’t want to take anything away from Clinton. I wasn’t surprised by Clinton’s performance.”
Said Pink: “We had our ups and downs. But overall I thought we played well. We worked together. There was no unselfishness. We hit a lot of open people (with passes).”
Clinton’s Elliott said a key for Webb City was its quickness leading to breakaway baskets.
“They were confident in their rebounding so much they were able to send one or two guys on the fly,” Elliott said. “That was good strategy on their part.”
Pink, hitting 9-of-14 shots, tallied 21 and grabbed nine rebounds. Sossamon and Powell each had 12 and Laveroni 11. Powell added four blocked shots.
Buckner and Andre Steward scored 15 points apiece for Clinton.
Webb City, keyed by Powell’s 5-of-6, hit 26-of-48 shots from the floor to Clinton’s 21-for-56. It led 38-29 in rebounding and committed three more turnovers.