Finals Set at 78th Annual Greenwood Blue and Gold Tournament

The Central Bulldogs will take on the Glendale Falcons and the Nixa Eagles will face the Republic Tigers Friday night in the championship games of the 78th Annual Greenwood Blue and Gold Tournament in Springfield.

The Bulldogs, seeded first in the Gold, are in the finals for the first time since losing to Willard 68-53 in the Blue Division title game in 1984.

The Bulldogs defeated fourth seeded Sparta 80-52 in Thursday’s semifinals, jumping out to a 25-7 lead after one quarter and never looking back, running a turbo clock for the entire fourth period.

Junior Devin Sanford scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs, who will play the Glendale Falcons in Friday night’s Gold Division championship game.

The Falcons survived an early scare from the Branson Pirates to win 68-52.

The Nixa Eagles advanced to their second straight tournament final with a 45-39 win over Fair Grove in Thursday’s semifinals at Great Southern Bank Arena.

With a win on Friday, the Eagles would have 12 Blue and Gold titles, trailing only Springfield Kickapoo with 13. The Eagles are currently tied with Ozark with 11 championships each and have won eight consecutive games in the tournament, dating back to their 66-25 victory over Hartville in the 2021 Blue Division 3rd place contest.

Here are the scores from Thursday’s semifinals of the Blue and Gold (seeds in parenthesis):

Gold Division Semifinals Thursday (Great Southern Bank Arena):

Final: (1) Central 80, (4) Sparta 42 (The Bulldogs pull away early, leading 25-7 after one quarter and 47-16 at the half. Central hits nine three pointers in the contest, three of them by Sanford, who led the Bulldogs in scoring with 20 points).

Final: (3) Glendale 68, (7) Branson 52 (The Falcons had a battle on their hands for much of the contest before extending the lead late. Glendale led 13-7 after one period and held a slim 29-28 margin at the half, and led by four points after three quarters. The Falcons get balanced scoring from Ta’Veaion Washington (21 points), Anthony Fletcher (19 points), and Amare Witham (18 points). Branson was led in scoring by Jayce Culver, who had 26 points).

Blue Division Semifinals Thursday (Great Southern Bank Arena):

Final: (1) Nixa 45, (5) Fair Grove 39 (The Nixa Eagles led 16-12 at halftime, and held a narrow 32-28 advantage after three quarters. Fair Grove pulled within one in the final frame, but Nixa secured the win. Freshman Adam McKnight scored 17 points and Devon Kemp added 16 to pace Nixa. Tyler Barnett picked up 18 points to lead the Fair Grove Eagles).

Final: (2) Republic 54, (6) Willard 37 (The battle of the Tigers went to Republic, who gets 16 points from Aslan Ebisch to pull away in the fourth quarter after trailing 30-28 at halftime. Braxton Boyer and Blake Daughtery each put in 12 for Willard, who will face Fair Grove in the Gold Division 3rd place game).

Gold Division Consolation Semifinals Thursday (Hammons Student Center):

Final: Willow Springs 71, Crane 67

Final: Marshfield 51, Clever 42

Gold Division 5th Place Semifinals Thursday (Hammons Student Center):

Final: (5) Greenwood 88, (8) Ash Grove 73

Final: (2) Ozark 77, (6) Strafford 45

Blue Division Consolation Semifinals Thursday (Hammons Student Center):

Final: (8) Lebanon 83, Aurora 62 (Kory Hough scores 19 to lead the Jackets).

Final: Bolivar 46, West Plains 44 (Liberators win on buzzer-beating shot by Damean Young, who leads the way with 24 points).

Blue Division 5th Place Semifinals Thursday (Hammons Student Center):

Final: (4) Rogersville 83, Mountain Grove 46 (Scott Metz scored 23 points to pace the Wildcats, with Bradley Henry scoring 17 for the Panthers).

Final: (3) Hartville 55, (7) Catholic 42 (Jalon Cryer leads a balanced Eagles scoring attack with 15 points. Payton Cogdill added 14).

Here’s the schedule for Friday’s championship round of the 78th Annual Greenwood Blue and Gold Tournament:

Gold Division 3rd Place Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):

(4) Sparta vs. (7) Branson 4:00 p.m.

Blue Division 3rd Place Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):

(5) Fair Grove vs. (6) Willard 5:30 p.m.

Gold Division Championship Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):

(1) Springfield Central vs. (3) Springfield Glendale 7:00 p.m.

Blue Division Championship Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):

(1) Nixa vs. (2) Republic 8:30 p.m.

Gold Division Consolation Final (Hammons Student Center):

Willow Springs vs. Marshfield 4:00 p.m.

Blue Division Consolation Final (Hammons Student Center):

(8) Lebanon vs. Bolivar 5:30 p.m.

Gold Division 5th Place Game (Hammons Student Center):

(5) Greenwood vs. (2) Ozark 7:00 p.m.

Blue Division 5th Place Game (Hammons Student Center):

(4) Rogersville vs. (3) Hartville 8:30 p.m.