PREP ROUNDUP: Risco surges late to beat Campbell in battle of state-ranked teams

The boys basketball battle between the Risco Tigers and Campbell Camels lived up to the hype.

The two Missouri small-school powers — the Tigers are ranked fourth in Class 1, while Campbell is seventh in Class 2 — engaged in a back-and-forth battle Saturday afternoon at the Libla Family Sports Complex before the Tigers took the lead late and took the 52-46 win.

How back-and-forth was Saturday’s game? The Camels led 13-10 after the opening period, but Risco used a strong second period to take a 21-19 lead to the locker room.

Campbell answered back in the third period, outscoring the Tigers 18-10 to take a 37-31 lead to the fourth quarter.

However, Risco was not done, tying the game at 41 midway through the final period, then outscoring the Camels 11-5 to end the game. Overall, the Tigers outscored Campbell 21-9 in the game’s final eight minutes.

Foul trouble also was a factor, as the Camels committed 23 fouls and sent Risco to the foul line 23 times, including 16 times in the second half and 11 times in the fourth quarter. The Camels’ two leading scorers in Saturday’s game, Layden Kellum and Caden Mayberry, both fouled out in the final period.

Sammy Smith paced the Tigers with 17 points, while Eli Rodgers added 13, Owen Fortner had 10 and Landon Fortner finished with eight.

Kellum led Campbell with 16 points, while Mayberry had 11, Keenon Siebert added eight and Ben Rowland finished with six.

OFC TOURNAMENT

Top seeds prevail in first round

At Piedmont, the top seeds ruled the day Saturday in the first round of the Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament at Clearwater High School, going 8-0 and all advancing to Monday’s semifinals.

On the boys side, top-seeded Puxico beat No. 8 Clearwater 100-34, while No. 4 Doniphan downed fifth-seeded East Carter 60-52, third-seeded Twin Rivers defeated No. 6 seed Greenville 67-52 and second-seeded Neelyville rolled past No. 7 Naylor 90-40.

Top seeds also ruled on the girls side, as No. 1 seed Doniphan beat eighth-seeded Naylor, while second-seeded Neelyville dominated No. 7 Puxico 76-12, No. 3 Twin Rivers beat sixth-seeded Greenville 49-41 and No. 4 seed East Carter defeated fifth-seeded Clearwater 64-47.

Saturday’s winners squared off Monday evening, with the boys playing at Clearwater and the girls playing at Greenville.

Monday’s losers will battle for third place Thursday at CHS, while Monday’s winners will play for the OFC Tournament championship Friday at the Libla Family Sports Complex on the campus of Three Rivers College.

FRIDAY NIGHT

Puxico 82, Bloomfield 40

At Bloomfield, the host Wildcats learned firsthand why the Puxico Indians are one of the best small-school boys basketball teams in Missouri.

The Indians led by as many as 20 points in the opening period and never looked back on the way to an 82-40 win Friday night, spoiling Bloomfield‘s homecoming in the process.

Puxico also earned its 20th win along the way and improved to 6-0 in the Stoddard County Activities Association standings. The Indians and Woodland will square off Feb. 18 to determine the regular-season SCAA champion.

In Friday’s contest, Puxico led 12-5 in the opening period before going on a 13-0 run that was the contest’s turning point.

The Indians did not slow down, outscoring the hosts 22-11 in the second period to take a 47-19 lead to the locker room. Puxico led 73-30 by the beginning of the final period.

Landan Burchard led Puxico with 28 points, 16 of them in the opening period. Scyler Zimmerman added 15 and the duo of Mason Parsley and Karson Long each had 11.

Caleb Upchurch paced the Wildcats with 12 points, while Andrew Blanco had 10 and Lane Grigery finished with eight.