MEADVILLE — Lacking a solid, sizable post presence on either end of the court, the Meadville High School Eagles may or may not be worthy of being ranked the No. 2 team in the state in Class 1.
Whether they are will be decided in just over a month, but, in the meantime, they have answered – with a bit of help – their biggest challenge to date.
Facing the Braymer Bobcats – a once-beaten team with a 14-game winning streak and not one, but two, big men inside larger and stronger than anyone they have – in Saturday night’s championship game of the Meadville Invitational, the unbeaten Eagles remained so with a 64-52 victory which was far closer late than the closing quote shows.
Using the same strategy which had allowed them to turn back Tina-Avalon’s upset bid in Thursday’s semifinals, the Eagles erased a halftime deficit and taken a multi-possession lead with a strong third quarter and seemed to have control as the game wound down.
However, the Bobcats clawed back behind role players Trent and Jesse Utt and Dylan Adkison to turn a 43-35 game after three periods into a 51-50 contest with just under a minute to go. In fact, the contest could have been tied but BHS lost a chance at a point on a free-throw lane violation in the run-up to T. Utt’s layup which shaved the MHS lead to one.
However, as Meadville tried to in-bound the ball after that bucket, a blocking foul – his fifth – was whistled on Braymer’s fine guard John Haley. Either in frustration or disagreement with the call, Haley reacted by grabbing his uniform jersey and ripping the hemmed end up and out of his pants. The intentional untucking of a jersey while still on the court, emphasized by the Missouri State High School Activities Association to its licensed officials for the past few years as a move of unsportsmanlike conduct requiring the assessment of a technical foul, was ruled accordingly by the game officials, the second time in the tourney it had been done (by different officials) to a Braymer player.
As a result, Meadville All-State guard/forward Cody Smith – owner of 2,000-plus points in his career – went to the free throw line for four free throws (two for the original foul and two for the “T”). After he made three to quadruple the precarious lead, the Eagles received the ball back as a secondary consequence of the technical and, as Meadville ran time off the clock, C. Smith was fouled yet again. This time, he nailed both tries, effectively making it a five-point MHS possession in the final minute.
Behind by six now and their momentum squelched by the stunning turn of events, the Bobcats were done for. After fruitless quick possessions, they continued to foul to stop the clock, but freshman Derek Smith hit two tries before older brother Cody drained four more and Lee Young capped MHS’ scoring with a pair. All told, 17 of the Eagles’ 21 final-period points – the last 17 after stars Willie Howe and C. Smith got early buckets – were on foul shot.