101 Thoughts from Day Three of the Blue and Gold
- SWMO Basketball
- Dec 29, 2025
- 8 min read
By: Skylan Akins
Day 3! I fell short Saturday on getting to 101 thoughts. Lets try it again.
For the first time all tournament long we actually made it to the 9:30 game
For the first time all tournament I get to see my boy Jax Baxter!
Willow Springs vs Stockton should be alot of fun!
Jax Baxter vs Kolby James could be the 1v1 small school matchup to watch of the entire tournament.
My thoughts holding true early on.
Kolby is a bucket!!!! 9 in the first quarter.
If Jax could finish inside, this wouldnt even be a game right now.
Ooooo that was a nasty fall by Colter Woods. That could be a problem for Stockton.
How is Kolby and Jax getting so many open looks?!?!?!
Big second quarter from Stockton has them right back in it. 26-25 Bears at the half.
Logan Reser had been pretty quiet up to this point. That changed quickly.
Dang I missed the Blue and Gold.
4th quarter time! This one has been a ton of fun.
Baxter is trying to take over this one. He is hitting everything.
So is Kolby.
This is electric right now. Why are all the best games at 9:30?
STOCKTON WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? Get a quick shot and run 2 for 1.
Some of these teams really have not figured out the strategy of the shot clock.
KOLBY FOR THE LEAD…..BANG! A 3 puts Willow on top by 3 with six seconds left. Ball has to go to Jax.
OH MY LAWD!!!!! They tried to give it to Jax but a pass out to Cannon Brown from the next zip code. At the buzzer nails it…..
We are headed to OT.
JD Flora joining in on the fun for the Stockton three!
Some more shot clock mismanagement. Willow has another shot to win it here!
Another chance for James!!!!!! DRILLS IT AGAIN!
Stockton unable to get a good look off. What a first game of the day! Willow takes it 74-73 in OT!
Baxter followed up his record breaking performance on Saturday with 39. James with 34 and the game winner!
This Parkview team does not look the same as the last few years.
To be fair neither does Greenwood.
I really like this #33 for Parkview, Eason Nash. Dude plays HARD.
Parkview is dominating the loose balls.
I have been really bad at documenting my thoughts this game. Been caught watching.
I am not sure what is weirder on the Greenwood bench. No Collin Clark, Kris Flood or Jay Osborne.
Parkview has really given Greenwood several chances to crawl back into this one.
The errors with the shotclock isn’t going to help either.
Greenwood might have had a chance but took way too long on the last possession. Final score 49-43.
I get wore out and exhausted just watching coach Simpson coach. He must be a blast to play for.
First quarter of Strafford-Bolivar was a lot of fun. Fast pased action.
Colton Ingold is still really good.
Bolivar went on a huge run here early in the 2nd quarter. They have just forced turnover after turnover.
Ingold with the first dunk of the day! Bolivar leads 40-21 at the break.
Bolivar ran away with this one late. You don’t see Strafford out before day four often.
62-46 Bolivar final.
Up next we have Ozark and Mt. Vernon in the Gold Consolation.
Physically, Mt. Vernon matches up better with Ozark than I expected.
Kylan Pickren has like 8 of Ozarks first 10 points. Not like he went off for 39 on Saturday.
Mt. Vernon is struggling to even get a shot off.
So apparently RUSH’s varsity team got disbanded…..One of those players Josh Graves is now playing with the Tigers. Interesting.
Mt. Vernon was able to keep it closer than it could be 16-7 after one quarter.
Halfway there! We are making it to 100 today. I may even try to make up the 25 I deprived my adoring fans of on Saturday.
The refs just missed a goaltending that deprived Pickren of a sweet transition dunk….. All of Hammons Student Center is sad.
Mt. Vernon just got their third time based violation. Two 5 second calls and now a 10 second call. This Tigers defense is suffocating.
Six minutes into the second quarter, the Mt’neers have just one bucket. This is impressive.
Just as I say that, Garrison Nordyke hits back to back threes for the Mt’neers cuts the lead to 31-19.
Nordyke gets another bucket as the second quarter winds down. 33-21 at the halftime break.
There Pickren got one down! No goaltend there.
Big quarter from Ozark there. Its all Tigers 57-32 going into the fourth.
Ozark may have the biggest cheer team I’ve ever seen.
There are 36 of them on the sideline.
A three from Brandon Brown puts Ozark up 65-35 and in turbo clock territory.
Despite the final score, I do think the Mt’neers had a solid showing. They really slowed down the high powered offense for a bit.
These new courts at MSU are pretty sweet. I really like the script.
Ozark’s Brady Altermatt gets an and-one to fall to a HUGE ovation! A senior that doesnt see much playing time getting on the board in the Blue and Gold is special. As a familiar story, I can always get behind that.
Final. Ozark advances to take on Bolivar for 5th place.
Movin over to Great Southern Bank Arena for the first of four semifinals as Nixa takes on Branson in the Gold Division semis.
So I am about as big of an ABBA fan as I care to admit. However, “Dancing Queen” during warmups may be pushing it just a little bit.
I hate that I even noticed the number. 8th graders have ruined this number forever.
Nixa starts fast. Adam McKnight is a freaky athlete.
Seriously. He has an offer from Missouri State football. He will probably get more than a few for basketball. Oh and his number 3 sport, baseball, he is just the #3 player in the state……. Somethings just aren’t fair.
Everytime I hear Rick Jester announce Nixa’s Colt McCoy, I have bad flashbacks to the 2008 college football season. Different sport but the Texas quarterback has forced me to not give this Nixa Colt a fair shake on things. Boomer Sooner.
The officials have told players to tuck in their jerseys more in these three days than I have seen in 6 years of covering sports.
Also the warnings for hanging on the rim while people are underneath the goal is absurd.
They may just be mad because they can’t touch the rim anymore.
Halftime score 29-17 Nixa leads.
Jett James has quietly had a pretty solid game.
We have beaten yesterday! 25 more!
Branson’s Wyatt Gray can ball a little bit too. He has been tough all night long.
Griffin Mehrhoff has sent a couple Nixa shots into the stands. He has been one bright spot for the Pirates defense.
Nixa leads 59-35 after three quarters. I think this one may be on ice.
Adam McKnight hit a bucket and there was a huge ovation. I think he just his 1,000th point. Congratulations Adam!
Next one should be fun. West Plains have been on a wild run upsetting #6 Greenwood and #3 Ozark in OT. Hartville is just a mainstay in the Blue and Gold semis looking for their first championship since 2020.
Hartville came out on fire! 8-0 early on.
Been waiting for Jared Kraft to get going today….. Still hasnt happened yet.
Ethan Miller has caught fire for West Plains in the second quarter.
By the eyetest, I feel like this is not one of the better Eagle teams in recent years but they have a 10 point lead in the semifinals at the break.
Brett Reed is the best coach in SWMO.
When the Zizzers try to go on a run, Hartville answers…….EVERY TIME.
Hartville vs Nixa feels like such a weird matchup. Logic says Adam McKnight may have 100 points. Reality says Brett Reed and Gus Sinning may have other plans.
Gus Sinning is a WAGON coming in!
West Plains is getting beat up and getting away with it. Very physical plays from Cogdill go unnoticed apparently. Levi Batchelor was tired of it and set a hard screen on O’Quinn which gets called.
That got Batchelor worked up and gets the T. I kinda think im team Zizzers in that one…
OH MY LORD GUS SINNING JUST HIT A 3!
Hartville cruises with a 65-38 victory.
This next one may have and O/U set at 210! Glendale vs LR. Lets Go!
Chase Branham may have just bent the rim with that dunk!
Glendale looks like the team more ready to play ball early. They jump out ahead early 11-6.
This LR zone is filthy.
GBSA is packed out for this one! Probably the most people In the upper deck I remember seeing at the Blue and Gold.
Glendale coach Brian McTague is less than pleased with the performance of the Falcons in the second quarter….
WE MADE IT TO 100!!!!!!! Lets keep talking!
Branham got a fastbreak opportunity for a massive dunk……called for a walk…..come on refs…
McTague’s strategy to play stallball down 17 is errrrr interesting to say the least.
Layup is waved off at the buzzer Rogersville leads 38-21 at half.
Titus Moore just passed the ball directly into the dome of his brother Marcus Moore. Marcus just gave his brother one of the funniest looks I have ever seen in a basketball game. That will be a fun discussion on the ride home.
Stop me if I have ever said this before, Chase Branham is really really really good. I think he will be just fine at IU.
I have a hot take. LR has a chance to win a couple games in the TOC this year.
I am stunned that Glendale has struggled this bad at holding onto the ball.
This one is toast. Rogersville wins it 80-46.
Republic and Willard is up next in the nightcap and this may be the best game of the day on paper.
I will be honest. I have been trying to get the rest of my articles up and I have forgot to comment on this nightcap.
#50 for Willard (he is not in the program. Kelley is his last name) Is a ton of fun to watch. He is a guard in a bigmans body.
Willard has dominated pretty much this entire game but REPMO is making a comeback.
The Rams and Falcons game has been insane.
Anyway, back to basketball.
Uzziah Huskisson may be one of the best sophomores in the state.
I think I drank 8 chocolate milks today. Shoutout Hiland Dairy!
Also shoutout to @shotbydmar for helping me with pictures today!
If you have not ever booked pictures with him, you need to. He is a HS senior at Clever and he does a fantastic job! Better than most pro photographers…..including me.
Brody Blades has been strangely quiet in this game.
Five more!
My google docs page with everything I have written today is currently at 22 pages….. I think my 8th grade students would croak if I had them write 22 pages in a semester.
Championship Tuesday is going to be awesome! Starting with Branson vs West Plains and Republic vs Glendale for the two third place games.
Then ending with Nixa vs Hartville and Rogersville vs Republic in the championships!!!!!
Wait a minute……. We may go over 125….. Kieran Govan just threw down a dunk to cut the Willard lead 49-46…. Holy crap.
Willard responds with a 4-0 run. Lead back up to 7 with just under two minutes left.
These free throws should wrap it up!!!! Willard wins ___-___
Well this was an awesome third day! Lets do one more tomorrow! Live commenting from Great Southern Bank Arena on the Campus of Missouri State University, this is Skylan Akins saying thank you for tuning in and the famous words of Joe Buck “We will see you……Tomorrow night.”
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