Cougars' run ends at hands of Hartville

Mar. 2—College Heights ran into a Hartville team that was long, athletic and featured plenty of height on Saturday afternoon at Ozark Christian College. The Eagles defended tough and showcased lateral movement all game long on the way to a 49-31 win.

It wasn't a lack of effort that ended the Cougars' season at 19-11 in the Class 2 state quarterfinal game.

Every player who touched the floor attacked offensively it seemed, but the long arms of Hartville came away with blocked shot after blocked shot. That length allowed the Eagles to defend without fouling most times as well.

"Our defense is something we spend a lot of time on, and stress, and take a lot of pride in," Hartville head coach Brett Reed said. "We had some holes today but if you hold someone in the low 30s you give yourself a great chance to win every night."

The Cougars attempted just eight free throws and made three. The Eagles weren't at the foul line much either, going 3 for 4.

College Heights couldn't get many shots to fall throughout the game; it had only made five baskets at halftime.

"They did a good job of preparing for us," CHCS head coach Stephen Harrel said. "We ran some good actions, we got some good screens, we got some good downhill drives ... it just wouldn't go in for us, man."

College Heights' Caleb Quade even had his shot blocked at the rim a few times by Hartville's senior big man Grant Culver.

That forced Quade to leave the painted area and work from the outside in. He found a bit of a rhythm facing up and knocking down midrange baskets.

"Quade hasn't seen somebody that big in a while so he had to adjust to that," Harrel said. "We had to adjust our passing. Because normal passes we would make they got tips on. ... They weren't overly big. They were just long and knew how to use it."

Reed noted that Quade made some "tough" shots over the top of Culver's long reach in the game.

The game began with Hartville scoring 7 in a row and then College Heights responding with 5 straight to make it 7-5. But then it was the visiting team scoring 8 straight over the next two-plus minutes to make it 15-5.

That second spurt by Hartville was highlighted by two 3-pointers from its leading scorer, Jalon Cryer. Cryer had not scored before knocking in those treys.

College Heights took a timeout and came out and converted a layup from Quade to end the run, but the first quarter ended with another 3-pointer from the Eagles to make it 18-7.

Hartville ended up cashing in on six triples in the game, which could end up accounting for the 18-point victory.

"We shot the ball well all year and we've got five or six guys that can shoot the three and shoot it at a high percentage, which helps us spread the floor and makes us tougher to guard," Reed said. "So does College Heights, to be honest. That's one thing that really worried us. Their guards shoot it well with space."

CHCS scored first in each of the last three quarters but never could mount a big run. It scored 4 of the first 6 in the second quarter with a layup from Jayce Walker and a midrange shot from Quade over Culver to make it 20-11.

The next 7 points went to the Eagles, a run capped off by a floating shot in the lane by Cryer to make it 27-11 at the half.

You could see the Cougars weren't about to lay down as they started the third quarter by getting a quick score from Quade. Then, after forcing a turnover, CHCS got another score and sophomore Adam Stanton moved straight into a pass outside the arc and stepped into a 3-pointer to make it 27-16.

Hartville scored the next 5 and College Heights never got back within 11 in that period.

It was a similar start to the final stanza. The Cougars got a steal and Colsen Dickens raced down floor and made good on a reverse layup to make it 37-25. A layup from Cryer made it 39-25. But the Cougars got it back to an 11-point differential as Dickens lined up a triple on the wing to make it 39-28.

Hartville's Jackson Ward helped to seal the win with some key offensive rebounds and putbacks to make it 43-28 on consecutive possessions.

Every time the Cougars pushed to make a run, it seemed the Eagles' defense found ways to get multiple stops and end the threat.

"They're all above 6' and you're not used to playing a team like that," Dickens said. "A lot of shots weren't falling. We shot maybe 20-25%."

Harrel couldn't put the words on it as he thought about his team's struggles at times. He just chalked it up as "one of those days."

"Sometimes you can say we didn't run good action so we didn't get a good shot. We ran good action and actually got good shots. So when you have A and B and all you don't have is C, you're kind of stuck in the wind like 'I don't know what,'" Harrel said. "I just have to chalk it up to it wasn't our day."

The Cougars went from 5-6 in December to 19-11 overall and playing in a state quarterfinal game as one of the last eight teams remaining in Class 2. It was a season that Harrel won't forget in his first year at the helm.

"I thank God for this season. It was a blessed and highly-favored season," he said. "This is something I will remember, our kids will remember and our school will remember. Just a great representation of ourselves as an institution. But also a great representation of ourselves as disciples of men."

College Heights had five seniors on this team from the scoring leader in Quade to ones that didn't get much playing time. Each one was important to Harrel.

"Just leadership. You have some that do it by leading on the floor and some that do it just by being there and being active. From the guy who scores 20 points to the guy that doesn't get in, I appreciate all my seniors because they all give something to the program."

Dickens spoke about his opportunity to play at College Heights for four seasons.

"I think it's pretty cool because we started the season with instant adversity with only one junior coming back and the rest sophomores," he said. "There's a lot of ups and downs that came with it. Out of all four years I think this was the most fun team I played on with the camaraderie of every player."

This makes back-to-back trips to the Final Four for Hartville. Last year, the Eagles finished fourth and coach Reed says his group is looking to perform better this time around and get some "redemption."