By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
Perhaps there was a reason the fans inside Kaminsky Gymnasium didn’t get too excited when the Joplin Eagles took a double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s Ozark Conference game.
Instead of going wild, the crowd saved its energy for a wild finish.
After erasing a large fourth-quarter deficit, the Glendale Falcons (17-6, 7-1 Ozark Conference) stormed back to steal a 60-55 overtime victory away from the Eagles.
The fourth quarter alone included Joplin (10-13, 3-5) blowing a 42-32 lead, Matt McCreary nailing a 3-pointer with only eight seconds remaining to tie for the Eagles at 52, and a pair of missed free throws by Glendale’s Chris Deines with no time left in regulation and the game still tied at 52.
While there was a nonchalant celebration when Eagles senior Sam Nguyen drilled a long 3-pointer with 7:25 left in regulation, the real crowd noise didn’t rock the gymnasium until Deines was fouled with zeroes showing on the clock.
Deines stepped to the line needing only to make one of two foul shots to win the game. That’s when the crowd came to a deafening roar.
Joplin had new life going into overtime. But with the Falcons coming off a 20-point fourth quarter, the Eagles couldn’t get their offense going and were outscored 8-3 in overtime.
Joplin coach Tim Spiers said he was very proud of his team’s showing on Senior Night. He said he was impressed with the heart shown by his team after struggling on the floor for most of the past two weeks.
“We just took the team that’s going to win our conference to overtime and had a chance to beat them,” Spiers said. “We played really hard, we played really smart, we shot the ball well and we did some pretty good things.”
Both teams were able to overcome tough stretches throughout the game. The Falcons went on a 9-0 run early in the first quarter to take a 9-2 lead. The Eagles answered with an 8-2 run to close the quarter and trailed 13-12. The game remained tight at the half with Glendale holding a slight 21-20 advantage.
The Falcons struggled to knock down shots in the third quarter and Joplin made them pay for it by outscoring them 19-11. McCreary and Derek Stokes combined for 14 of the team’s points in the third.
The script was reversed in the fourth as the Falcons scored on consecutive Joplin turnovers to get back in the game. The Eagles also got into foul trouble in the fourth and Glendale responded by making 11-of-15 free throws.
“The crowd was phenomenal,” Spiers said. “Our student section over there was incredible. We gave them everything we had. We just came up a little short.”
Casey Goss drilled five 3-pointers en route to 29 points to lead the Falcons. He put the game away in overtime with his fifth 3-pointer to make it 57-52 with one minute remaining. Taylor Triplett finished with 10 for Glendale as well.
McCreary led the Eagles with 18 points. Stokes added 14.
Joplin will finish out the regular season at West Plains in an Ozark Conference contest at 6 p.m. Friday.
