Neeylville included some old-school basketball in its first Ozark Foothills Conference tournament championship in 34 years.
Following a four-minute stall to open the second quarter, the Tigers held off Twin Rivers in the fourth quarter to win 58-48 Friday night at the Bess Activity Center.
"Happy for our school, happy for our community, happy for these kids," Neelyville coach Patrick Morton said.
With the Neelyville girls program winning its 10th straight OFC tournament, it is the first time the same school has won both titles since Doniphan did it in 2007.
Neelyville won the first three OFC tournaments from 1982-84.
"They work extremely hard all season long," Morton added. "For the hard work to pay off like it did tonight and to bring this tournament championship home, it is big. We are very blessed to be in a community like this and to be able to win it for them is pretty nice."
At the start of the second quarter Neelvyille (18-4) held the ball near halfcourt while Twin Rivers (11-12) stayed within the 3-point line, and time went by. Four minutes burned off the clock with the student sections going nuts. Cheering and booing and cheering and inaction. The fans, Neelyville on one side of the court and Twin Rivers across from them, competed on volume while the players on the court stood still.
On the sidelines, Morton was having a mid-game scouting session. Coming into the game he thought Twin Rivers coach Seth McBroom, whom Morton added is one of the best he's gone against, would use a triangle-and-2 or another kind of uncommon defense. When they did, the Neelyville coaches told the team to stand still.
"It took us a long time to figure something out," Morton said. "We decided with about four minutes left to give it a shot and see what happened. It just kind of went from there. We don't want to hold the ball. We want to get up and go."
When the Tigers finally did run a play ... and scored, the Neelyville student section booed.
"I think it was a flashback a little bit. A little legendary, built the rivalry up. I think it got the fans involved in the game a little bit more, kind of made it more intense, a little more competitive. It was a lot of fun. Old school basketball," said Neelyville senior Taylor Harlow, who held the ball under his arm for most of the stall.
McBroom was fine with the inaction. Forward Andrew Mittelstadt was sitting on the bench after picking up two fouls in the first 18 seconds of the game and Neelyville had the three tallest players on the court.
"With us having a couple guys in foul trouble, I was OK with it," McBroom said. "(Mittelstadt) is a very smart player and he is a good anchor for our defense and typically helps by blocking out the other team's best rebounder. Obviously without him out there in the first half hurt."
Play soon returned to everyone's regularly schedule basketball game and Twin Rivers' Hayden Thomas sank a 10-footer in the final minute to cut Neelyville's lead to 21-18 at the half, and the Tigers built it to six points at the end of a back-and-forth third quarter.
Fowler opened the fourth quarter with a bucket for the Tigers, and Zach Hargraves answered with a three-point play through Fowler. Then came Fowler again, with a post move for a bucket through a foul, and then three free throws over the next two possessions to give the Tigers their first double-digit lead.
"I missed a lot of free throws, should have made them. I'm excited that we won," said Fowler, who was 7 for 15 from the line and finished with 20 points. "I was thinking I was either going to shoot it or go in strong."
With under six minutes to play, Jamie Robards swished a corner 3 for the Royals to cut the deficit to seven.
Neelyville kept going to Fowler and he put back his own missed shot. After Allen Hendrix scored for the Royals, Neelyville's Marquise West got a putback through a foul.
"They got us on the offensive boards," McBroom said. "If there was one key for us tonight, it was to go find somebody on every shot, block them out and control the boards. We had spurts where we didn't do and we had spurts where we did. During the spurts where we didn't, they'd foul or get an offensive rebound and put it back it."
Thomas then cut the lead to six with a 3 from the top of the key. He sank another one with 2:20 left to make it a one-possession game.
Neelyville made a free throw and Hargraves found room in the paint for a bucket to make it a two-point game.
West scored a putback at the other end as the clock passed the two-minute mark.
The Royals gave the ball back to Thomas. His 3 was long, but Hendrix grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled, putting Neelyville in the bonus. He made both, making it a two-point game, and Twin Rivers called a timeout with 1:22 left.
Fowler caught the ball near midcourt, drove right and laid it in.
Twin Rivers set up its offense with Neelyville in a 2-3 zone and the clock ran as they looked for space. McBroom eventually called a timeout after 30 seconds passed without the Royals taking a shot.
Down four with 38 seconds left, Thomas took a corner 3 that was short. Tyler Lowe grabbed the defensive rebound and was immediately fouled.
"We had some guys step up and make big plays," Harlow said. "Curtis Fowler got to the whole a couple times, Marquise picking up some big rebounds and just guys finding people defensively and doing their job. For us, that is huge, just guys stepping up and knowing their role."
In the double bonus, Lowe made both to put Neelyville up by six. Then he stole an inbounds pass and added two more free throws to seal the game.
The Tigers finished 13 for 23 on free throws while Twin Rivers was 5 for 5.
"I've been waiting for it my whole high school career," said Lowe, who led Neelyville with 21 points and said he was nervous at the foul line after not attempting a free throw all game.
"I just knew I had to knock them down."