By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
There was no doubting the rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and McAuley was at full blast for a pair of varsity games on senior night at Thomas Jefferson High School on Thursday.
The fans were, at times, so loud it was impossible to hear anything. The players stepped onto the floor pumped up enough they could explode.
Three players in the boys game, Thomas Jefferson’s Alex Oserowsky and Jordan Stauffer, and McAuley’s Kevin O’Keefe, did explode in the points department. In the end the Cavaliers earned a 60-53 victory.
The McAuley girls beat the Cavaliers 56-39.
Oserowsky, a freshman, poured in a game-high 29 points in the boys game, with 18 coming in the first half. Stauffer, a junior, scored 24 points for the Cavaliers.
O’Keefe led McAuley with 26 points. He had 18 of McAuley’s 27 second-half points.
After trailing by as many as 12 points (42-30) in the third quarter, the Warriors nearly pulled out the victory in the fourth.
McAuley pulled within 47-46 on a Rocky Spry jumper with 3:04 left that capped a 6-0 run. But the Cavaliers quickly shut it down with a 13-of-16 performance from the foul line in the fourth quarter. The Warriors never led in the game.
“(The Warriors) have got some guys that can really play,” Cavaliers coach Cleo Elbert said. “They’ve got some guys that can really shoot and jump. I didn’t want to make it a track meet or an athletic contest with them. That’s why we had to get to the free throw line.”
Free throws paved the way to victory for the Cavaliers. Stauffer stepped to the line and knocked down eight consecutive foul shots in the final two minutes. The Cavaliers shot 18-for-23 from the line in the game.
“We got to the one-and-one before they did and we had to take advantage of it,” Elbert said.
After building an 8-2 lead within the first two minutes of the game, the Cavaliers pulled away to take a 30-16 advantage at the mid-point of the second quarter. They held a 10-point kead throughout most the third and part of the fourth.
“We didn’t rebound well,” Warriors coach Chuck Williams said. “We tried to work Kevin and Brant (Russell) in the post and get some calls. We just have to execute better than we did tonight.”
Russell chipped in 14 points for the Warriors.
In the girls game the Warriors cruised to the win behind 18 points apiece from sophomore Sonya Kilongkilong and senior Jae Stephens. Senior Arielle Santillan added 11 and combined with Kilongkilong to hit five treys.
McAuley came out firing in the first quarter and amassed 25 points. The Warriors led 38-20 by halftime.
Cheyenne Hill and Sally Currence led the Cavaliers with 15 points each. Jessica Taylor had nine points.
With only five players on their roster this season, the Cavaliers finished the regular season with its entire team intact. All five players received special plaques after the game from the “Thomas Jefferson community” for what was called “stepping up when others chose not to.”
“I guess on a whole our kids did a pretty remarkable job all season,” Cavaliers coach Chris Myers said. “Based on the circumstances they’ve been there every night. Haven’t missed practices. Haven’t missed any games. They leave it on the court.
“No one wanted this, but it was what it was,” he added. “Those five girls never complained one time. They took it in stride and did everything possible to make our team as best as it could be.”
