The finals are set at the 79th Annual Greenwood Blue and Gold basketball tournament in Springfield.
Bolivar will take on Republic in the Gold Division championship game at 7:00 p.m. Monday at Great Southern Bank Arena, while Springfield Kickapoo will play Logan-Rogersville at 8:30 p.m. in the Blue Division title game.
Gold Division: The Bolivar Liberators have become the first unseeded team in the Blue and Gold to advance to the championship game since 2016, downing the 5th seeded Greenwood Blue Jays 52-46 in the first semifinal game of the day at Great Southern Bank Arena.
The Liberators jumped out to a 26-7 lead in the 2nd quarter, but the Blue Jays put together a 12-0 run to end the half, cutting the deficit to 26-19.
The Blue Jays came storming back to take the lead with 2:04 left in the 3rd quarter when Cade Garrett hit a pair of free throws to give his team a 32-31 advantage.
But the Liberators had a big run of their own left, scoring the next eight points to go ahead 41-32 with about five minutes left in the game.
Greenwood cut the lead down to four points, 43-39, with 1:40 remaining, but the Liberators hit some big free throws down the stretch as the Blue Jays could pull no closer than four of the lead.
In fact, the Liberators were 11-12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
Gardner Casey led the Liberators in scoring with 17 points, with Matthew Giglio adding 13.
Collin Clark’s 29 points led the way for Greenwood.
Bolivar will play the Republic Tigers in the Gold Division championship Monday night at 7:00.
The Tigers, seeded 2nd in the Gold, jumped ahead of the Willard Tigers 24-13 after one quarter and led the rest of the way, going up 44-21 at the half and 59-28 after three quarters, with a running “turbo” clock in the final eight minutes.
Brenley Hagewood lead all scorers with 25 points for Republic, who remains unbeaten on the season.
Blue Division: The Kickapoo Chiefs, seeded #1 in the Blue Division, are headed to the finals following a 54-40 win over Springfield Hillcrest in Saturday’s semifinals at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Hillcrest got off to a hot start, taking a 9-5 lead over the Chiefs at the end of the first quarter, but Kickapoo outscored the Hornets 17-6 in the second quarter to go up by seven at the half.
Kickapoo widened the margin in the third quarter, going up 42-25 headed into the final frame, and the Hornets couldn’t stop them.
Jackson Shorter led the Chiefs with 18 points, while Taner Hicks put in 13 for Hillcrest.
The Chiefs will meet Logan-Rogersville in the Blue Division title game on Monday.
The Wildcats beat Branson 54-34 in the semifinals on Saturday.
It was a tight first half, with L-R taking a 19-14 lead after one quarter and 24-21 at the half, but the Wildcats opened it up in the third quarter to increase the margin to 42-28 with one quarter to play.
Dane Smith’s 17 points led Rogersville, with Chase Branham adding 13.
Jayce Culver led Branson in scoring with 14 points.
Here are the scores from Saturday’s semifinal round play at the Blue and Gold Tournament:
Gold Division Semifinals (Great Southern Bank Arena)
Final: Bolivar 52, (5) Greenwood 46
Final: (2) Republic 68, (6) Willard 33
Blue Division Semifinals (Great Southern Bank Arena)
Final: (1) Springfield Kickapoo 54, (4) Springfield Hillcrest 40
Final: (2) Logan-Rogersville 54, (6) Branson 34
Gold Division Consolation Semifinals (Hammons Student Center):
Final: Lebanon 66, Miller 60
Final: Clever 49, Ava 41
Gold Division 5th Place Semifinals (Hammons Student Center):
Final: (1) Nixa 73, (4) Strafford 42
Final: (7) West Plains 56, (3) Hartville 49
Blue Division Consolation Semifinals (Hammons Student Center):
Final: Crane 68, (8) Willow Springs 49
Final: Mt. Vernon 43, Sparta 37
Blue Division 5th Place Semifinals (Hammons Student Center):
Final: Aurora 67, (5) Fair Grove 66
Final: (3) Ozark 63, (7) Springfield Catholic 54
After a break from tournament play on Sunday, the Blue and Gold Tournament concludes Monday evening with the championship round.
Here’s the schedule for Monday’s final round of the 79th Annual Greenwood Blue and Gold Tournament:
Gold Division 3rd Place Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):
(5) Greenwood vs. (6) Willard 4:00 p.m.
Blue Division 3rd Place Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):
(4) Springfield Hillcrest vs. (6) Branson 5:30 p.m.
Gold Division Championship Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):
Bolivar vs. (2) Republic 7:00 p.m.
Blue Division Championship Game (Great Southern Bank Arena):
(1) Springfield Kickapoo vs. (2) Logan-Rogersville 8:30 p.m.
Gold Division Consolation Finals (Hammons Student Center):
Lebanon vs. Clever 4:00 p.m.
Blue Division Consolation Finals (Hammons Student Center):
Crane vs. Mt. Vernon 5:30 p.m.
Gold Division 5th Place Game (Hammons Student Center):
(1) Nixa vs. (7) West Plains 7:00 p.m.
Blue Division 5th Place Game (Hammons Student Center):
Aurora vs. (3) Ozark 8:30 p.m.
