By Richard Polen
rpolen@joplinglobe.com
SEDALIA, Mo. — In a showdown between two once-beaten teams, Thomas Jefferson and Dadeville battled until the end — and then some.
Dadeville made 7-of-9 free throws in overtime while Thomas Jefferson lost its shooting touch in a 63-55 decision that sent Dadeville to the Class 1 Show-Me Showdown II in Columbia.
Thomas Jefferson overcame a 10-point Dadeville lead going into the fourth quarter and took a 50-48 lead with 1 minute, 19 seconds remaining in regulation. But Dadeville tied the score on a jump shot with a minute to go, and both teams squandered their chances to win the game before overtime at State Fair Community College on Saturday afternoon.
“If we had hit our free throws, we wouldn’t have had overtime,” Dadeville head coach Mike Linehan said. “To be up 10 and go down by two and stay poised ... that we got a big steal and came down and got a layup was impressive to put it into overtime.”
Until Thomas Jefferson’s fourth-quarter comeback, the difference in the game had been a hot-shooting second quarter that gave Dadeville a 32-25 lead at halftime. All-state guard Zach Medley made three of his five 3-point goals in the period, including a 70-foot heave as the buzzer sounded at the end of the second quarter.
“That killed us,” Thomas Jefferson head coach Cleo Elbert said. “We had just scored, and they launch it and it tears the net up and they have momentum again.
“When we went into halftime, they were 10 out of 13 from near or behind the 3-point line,” he said. “They were going to slow down a little bit or else they could beat anybody.”
Senior center Jordan Stauffer led Thomas Jefferson with 22 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, as the Cavaliers tried to get the Bearcats’ inside players in foul trouble. The strategy paid off when 6-4 Brock Toler, who picked up two fouls in the first 4:11 of the game, fouled out with 1:18 remaining in overtime while Dadeville held a 54-50 lead.
Toler scored 10 points, including Dadeville’s first two baskets in overtime. Medley led the Bearcats with 23 points, and Dakota Webb, whose defensive assignment was Thomas Jefferson forward Alex Oserowsky, scored 18 points.
Stauffer began Thomas Jefferson’s comeback by scoring the first two baskets of the fourth quarter, and Oserowsky, who scored 11 points, made a pair of free throws that pulled the Cavaliers to within 44-40 with 5:53 to go in the fourth quarter.
Thomas Jefferson countered a basket by Webb with a free throw by Zach Powell and a 3-point goal by Oserowsky that pulled the Cavaliers to within 46-44 and prompted a time out by Dadeville with 3:46 left in the quarter.
After Toler scored on a layup with an assist from Medley, Thomas Jefferson took the lead on three consecutive baskets by Zach Powell, including a baseline drive that put the Cavaliers in front 50-48 with 1:19 left.
After Dadeville tied the game on a basket by Toler, Thomas Jefferson played for the last shot but lost control of the ball and, in a tie-up, the jump ball was awarded to Dadeville with 15 seconds to go.
The Bearcats’ Trent Bergmann drove to the basket and missed, but Medley recovered a loose ball and put up a shot from just outside the lane with three-tenths of a second remaining that bounced around the rim and rolled off.
“He has been that type of player for us all year,” Linehan said. “He has hit big shots. He and Trent made some nice passes that got us some easy looks that were just crucial.
“It didn’t quite sink in until the huddle after the game,” he said of his team’s upcoming trip to Columbia. “They were so happy they were purple in the face. That’s when it sunk in.”
The loss was just the second in 27 games this season for Thomas Jefferson.
“In a one-game series, it’s tough,” Elbert said. “It was a great ride, a great season. “I’m proud of our seniors for carrying me along.”
