REPUBLIC — Hudson Roberts had all of four minutes of varsity action that he picked up from Ozark’s trip to a Jefferson City Helias Shootout last season to rely upon entering his first start Thursday.
Roberts was among four first-time starters for the Tigers, who overall gave a good account of themselves despite a 66-65 season-opening setback to Rolla at the Republic Tournament.
Roberts responded with a game-high 28 points.
“I wasn't nervous,” the sophomore shooting guard said. “I’m the type to keep my nerves calm. But I could have handled the start of the game better. I was a little jittery. I got that out pretty quick.”
Roberts had 25 points through the first three quarters. He netted five 3-pointers
"I haven't proved anything yet,” he said. “I still have work to do. I could have knocked down some open shots I missed. I’ve got to keep going. But for a first game I guess it wasn't too bad.”
Coach Mark Schweitzer noted if Roberts was his secret weapon, the secret is out.
“Hudson had a really good night. Now the world is going to know about him,”Schweitzer said. “He’s going to have to deal with tougher defenses.”
Roberts certainly gained Rolla’s attention as the game went along.
“They were getting up on me, trying to deny me the ball,” Roberts said. “They were targeting me and making sure they knew where I was. Defenses won't be able to stop us like that. That just got my teammates open. ”
“They were definitely talking more about his location on the court,” Schweitzer said. “You could hear their coach yelling to them whatever area he was at. They were keying on him. We still scored. It was a give and take. If they're going to try to take him out, the other guys are going to have to step up, which I thought for the most part they did.”
With Roberts held to three points in the fourth quarter, Jace Whatley and Ryan Engel both scored seven points over the final eight minutes. Whatley finished with 13 points and Engel 12.
Likewise, an inexperienced Rolla bunch also executed well offensively. Freshman Ethan Brown scored 23 points.
“That’s two young kids right there who are going to be around southwest Missouri basketball for a long time,” Schweitzer said of Roberts and Brown.
The difference in the game may have been a momentary lapse in judgement by the Tigers defensively. Schweitzer felt his players began to send the Bulldogs to the free-throw line too early in an effort to rally.
"The last 2-3 minutes, we started fouling on purpose and it was still a (two)-point game. With 1:40 left, we freaked out a little bit,” he said. “My message to them was not to foul. Rolla would break our press and we still had another shot to get the trap we wanted. But we fouled and they went 4-for-4 on free throws. That made it a six-point game.”
Garrett Ballard made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull Ozark as close of the lead as it got down the stretch.
“Offensively, we were good. We got into a rhythm in the second half,” Roberts said. “We moved the ball good, we got guys open when we needed to and got the right guys the right shots. But our defense has to improve in order for us to win games.”
“Rolla runs so many defenses and they switch it up. It's never the same thing after every timeout,” Schweitzer said. "For an inexperienced team like we have, it was a tough matchup to start the year off. I think our kids actually handled it pretty good.”
Ozark was 22-8 at the tornament over the past 10 seasons prior to Thursday. The Tigers' only other first-round loss in recent seasons was a 2020 setback to Parkview. They reached the final last year before falling to Liberty.
Ozark and Liberty will meet again at 4 p.m. Friday in a consolation bracket contest. Liberty lost 73-29 to Bentonville, Arkansas, on Thursday.
“Bentonville is a Tournament of Champions team from what I saw,” Schweitzer said. “I don't know why they didn't get a phone call to get in it. You can be 0-3 in this tournament and still be a really good team. They beefed (the field) up.
“The biggest thing for me is to stay positive with our kids,” he added. “You can't get mad at them for missing layups or free throws or the mistakes they're making because they're playing hard. It's hard for me to do that sometimes. The key for them is to understand that even when I'm animated I'm their biggest fan and they have to keep with it. I do think we will be a very competitive team with the area's best when it's all said and done.”
Rolla 66, Ozark 65
OZARK (65) — Whatley 4 5-5 13, Engel 4 2-3 12, Sutherland 1 1-4 3, Ballard 3 0-0 8, Roberts 10 3-4 28, Garner 0 1-2 1.
ROLLA (66) — Cooper 1 6-6 8, Papadakos 4 2-2 12, Brown 8 5-5 23, Foster 8 6-9 23.
Ozark 19 7 18 21 - 65
Rolla 22 9 13 22 - 66
3-point goals - Roberts 5, Engel 2, Papadakos 2, Brown 2, Foster.
