CBC, Nixa cruise to Class 6 state championship game

They will meet for the title at 4 p.m. Friday.

Author:
Cody Thorn
Publish date:
Mar 18, 2022 12:47 AM EDT

By Cody Thorn I Photos by Cheap Seats Photography

SPRINGFIELD — Jay Osborne’s final game as a head coach will be in the state championship game. Nixa knocked off No. 1-ranked Staley in a Class 6 semifinal game, 53-43, on Thursday night at JQH Arena.

Osborne announced his retirement earlier this school year, and this will be the final game of his career when Nixa (28-3) plays Christian Brothers College at 4 p.m.

Osborne has been at the school for 30 years and is in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was at the helm when Nixa won its second state title in 1999 and the Eagles returned to the finals in 2012 and took second. Now, the Eagles are a win away from title No. 3 for the Central Ozark Conference school.

“I think we just want to go out with a bang, especially since he's been here for quite a while,” Nixa senior guard Collin Ruffin said of his head coach who is 674-245 overall and 611-229 at Nixa. “I definitely want to get him one. Get myself one, too.”

Nixa, ranked No. 4, jumped ahead early against the Falcons and took control in a very home-like atmosphere, playing only 15 minutes away from campus.

The early momentum wore off and Staley trimmed what was a 16-point deficit in the third quarter down to four in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons (26-5) came up empty on several late possessions and then Nixa hit free throws down the stretch to salt away a 12th straight victory.

There were a few key stretches in the fourth that provided pivotal turning points in the outcome.

Staley scored first in the fourth on a jumper by Kayden Fish inside, trimming Nixa’s lead to 40-34. Staley had three chances to pull close but missed a 3-pointer and had two turnovers. Fish, a 6-foot-8 junior center, hit two free throws with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left to pull Staley within five. The Falcons had the ball with another chance to get it within a possession, but had a turnover and then a charge call that negated a bucket that would’ve made it 41-38.

“We're ready to make that push and we get a layup to go and it's a block/charge call,” Staley coach Chris Neff said. “It's a tough one. And it's part of basketball. It's part of sports that when the whistle blows you're left to be a victim of whatever that call may be or even to rejoice over what that call might be. Imagine what our bench does; what our crowd does if that's our call. So what we pick back up … you got to make your own breaks.”

A layup and two free throws from Kael Combs, a highly recruited football and basketball standout, helped Nixa build a nine-point lead (45-36) with 3:54 to go.

Staley answered with a three-point play by Fish – who had a team-high 16 points – and then two free throws from Kyan Evans with 3:06 left to make it 45-41.

Then, history repeated itself again for Staley.

The Falcons missed two three pointers – getting the rebounds on both – and then traveled with a chance to cut a deficit down to a possession.

Forced to foul, Nixa went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final 1:17 to pull away – two by Combs and six by Ruffin.

“I've been down to the state tournament quite a bit,” Neff said. “In 18 years of coaching, I've been here five times, and I’ve come down as an assistant a couple different times and I just always loved the state tournament. What I've seen over the years is roaring comebacks and I've been a part of some. In (2014), you know we're (St. Joseph Lafayette) up 10 points going to the fourth and Republic punches us right in the face and takes the crown from us. And I've seen it. It's hard to hold leads in the final four. It's really tough on high school kids and I felt like Nixa was going to give us that chance. We just just went empty too often on the other end.”

Combs, who recently picked up football offers from South Dakota and Western Michigan, had a game-high 19 points and led his team with seven rebounds. Ruffin hit three 3-pointers and was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line to rack up 18 points.

Ruffin and Combs had nine points each in the first half, helping Nixa take a 28-16 lead into the locker room.

“I think we knew that there was gonna be a physical coming to this game as being from a no-name town, we knew we had to hit him in the mouth first in the first quarter,” Combs said. “Kind of get a lead and keep the lead because we know that they're gonna have their runs or whatever, they're gonna be super physical with us. We just had to punch him in the mouth first.”

Staley was plagued by a poor night shooting. Usually averaging 40 percent from the 3-point line, the Falcons hit only 2 of 13 attempts from beyond the arc – 15.4 percent.

“The tempo was fast and they played good defense,” said Evans, who had 12 points. “They didn’t allow us to get our shots.”

Christian Brothers College 70, Chaminade College Prep 52

The Cadets won the season series between the two St. Louis parochial schools by pulling away in the second half of the first Class 6 semifinal game on Thursday.

Leading 24-22 at the break, CBC (25-6) rolled up 25 points in the third quarter to expand the advantage to double figures entering the fourth.

“We eventually wore them down, in my opinion, especially the third quarter and that was one of our goals was to keep pressure on their point guard and make the other guys score the ball,” said CBC coach Justin Tatum, who guided the Cadets to a crown in 2014.

CBC used a balanced attack in the third to pull away with Robert Martin scoring 10, followed by five from Larry Hughes Jr. and four by Justus Johnson, a Murray State football signee. The lead peaked at 20 points in the third and ended up at 14 (49-35) going into the fourth.

Nate Straughter had seven of Chamindae’s 13 points in the third. The senior forward finished with a team-high 24 points and was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

CBC had three players in double figures, led by 29 from Martin, who has committed to Indiana State. Hughes Jr. had 13, while 7-foot-2 post John Bol had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Hughes Jr. and Martin were freshmen when the Cadets reached the finals last, losing 63-59 to Columbia Rock Bridge in 2019.

This win came almost a month after the most recent win against the Red Devils, a 67-61 win on Feb. 21. Chaminade (25-6) won the first meeting, 71-65, on Jan. 14. The Red Devils are one of three Missouri teams to beat CBC, the others were Westminster Christian Academy and Link Year Prep, a non-MSHSAA affiliated program.