Noles fall short of region title, secure three seed

MELBOURNE – The Osceola Seminoles held on to defeat Flippin Saturday, 60-58, in the 3A Region 2 consolation game to secure a three seed in the 3A State Tournament.

The Seminoles (23-7) face Region 1 two seed Subiaco Academy (24-5) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the campus of North Arkansas College in Harrison.

Friday night’s 56-48 semifinal loss to Bergman ended Osceola’s regional title hopes and Coach Bryanth Basemore described his team’s effort as “not playing championship basketball.”

The Seminoles, notorious for slow starts, followed that script falling behind by as many 19 points in the first half and again midway through the third quarter.

Osceola was 6-of-42 shooting in the opening two quarters and scored just 16 points, while Bergman (34-3) connected on 50 percent of its first half field goals to lead by 18 at the break.

Despite all that, the Seminoles began to whittle away at the Panther lead midway through the third quarter.

Trailing 40-21 with 4:30 to go in the frame, OHS scored nine straight points over the next three minutes to cut the lead to 40-30.

By quarter’s end the District 3 one seed still was behind 42-31.

“A small window had opened for us,” explained Basemore of the comeback attempt, “even after our poor start. Momentum had changed and all we had to do was claim it.”

Halfway through the final quarter it appeared the Seminoles were on the verge of overtaking a highly-ranked Bergman team.

Down nine, Jeremiah Jacobs, who had four offensive rebounds in the game, stuck back a miss to pull his team with seven points at 47-40.

Bergman turned the ball over on an offensive foul call before Tyler Bell fired the ball to Jeriyan Long in the paint. Long muscled his way to the hoop and sank the basket.

Additionally, a foul call resulted in Hayden Jones, Bergman’s 6-9 rim protector, drawing his fifth and final foul. Before his exit, Jones had collected 10 rebounds and blocked 11 shots.

Long completed the traditional three-point play and Osceola was within four with 3:51 to play.

From there, the Seminoles had their chances but couldn’t capitalize. They collected three steals, forced a turnover, blocked a shot but missed all six of its field goal attempts, plus was 1-of-5 from the free throw line. Tack on a technical foul call on M.J. Washington for slightly kicking the ball to the referee after a free throw make and Bergman held on for the win.

“Hey, it came to down to the small things,” Basemore said, “We take a play or two off, too many offensive rebounds for them. Uncharacteristic free throw misses by M.J and Jeriyan result in us coming up short.

“Seeding don’t matter,” the head coach said of playing the consolation game. “I wanted to win the region to go along with the conference and district titles. Why not try to keep it going?”

Yet Osceola had to deal with its first loss in the 13 games – a win streak which dated back to early January.

“A loss at this point and time is a good wakeup call,” Basemore said trying to find a benefit in taking a ‘L’. “And it gets us to readjust and refocus a little bit, coaches too.

“We need to get our heads out of the clouds and get these guys to understand you have to play this game a certain way,” he added.

What is the certain way?

“It’s all or nothing,” Basemore answered emphatically. “Championship teams want it every possession. They don’t take plays off.

“It’s just…it’s ok to lose if the other team just beats you,” he continued, “but to start the way we started, poor effort, not getting back on defense; small stuff like that we have to clean up if we want to be champions. We can be good but everybody you see this time of the year is good. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here. To be great, you have to have a different mindset.”

Long finished with 17 points, nine boards and three blocks after exiting the region opener against Mountain View with a minor injury. Jacobs tallied seven points and the six rebounds, while Bell scored five points, dished out five assists and collected three steals.

Dylan Friend led all scorers with 29 points and Sawyer Schubert added 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Osceola 60, Flippin 58 (consolation)

The Seminoles had to hold off Flippin (28-11) in the third place game after building a 12-point lead in the first half.

They led by nine entering the fourth quarter but the Bobcats lit it up from three draining five in the period to draw the game close.

However, Osceola flipped the script from Friday’s loss and connected on all but one of its 14 free throws in the quarter. They had just two field goals in the frame – one from Bell and the remaining from Long.

Long accounted for 13 points, Washington 12 and Chris Wilkins eight as the Seminoles wait four days for state tournament play.

Tucker Thompson led Flippin, which draws Lamar in the state’s first round, with 20 points and Rilyn Robins chipped in 17.

Osceola 66, Mt. View 48 (quarterfinals)

Washington scored a game-high 25 as the Seminoles outscored the Yellowjackets, 52-34, over the final three quarters of play.

Tyrese James added 13 and Jacobs nine points in the win which sealed a berth in the state tournament.

Tyler Newton led Mt. View (12-16) with 13 and teammates Austin McDonald and Cole Gray tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively.