Nixa will go eight days in between games before playing in the Elite Eight.
After knocking off Kickapoo at Districts last Friday, the Eagles advance to the Class 6 Quarterfinal round to meet Lee’s Summit West at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at SBU in Bolivar.
This will be the longest span in between tip-offs for Nixa (26-3) all season. If the Eagles win Saturday, they would next play at the Final Four March 17. Thus, their Quarterfinal contest will be their one and only game over 12 days.
“We’ve got time to get our legs rested and work on our free throws,” coach Jay Osborne said, while referencing the Eagles’ 4-of-14 free-throw shooting against Kickapoo. “We’ll get a lot of shots up. We won’t talk about free throws, but we’ll shoot them. And we’ll work on defense.”
“We all need to stay in the gym a lot,” guard Colin Ruffin added.
After knocking off the defending Class 6 state champions, Nixa’s road to the Final Four will see the Eagles face a Lee’s Summit West team that was 8-13 three weeks ago. The Titans have since emerged as one of the state’s more unlikely post-season success stories.
Lee’s Summit West claimed the Class 6 District 6 championship as the No. 5 seed by upsetting Lee’s Summit (22-5) and Raytown (20-8). Earlier this season, the Titans (14-13) lost to Lee’s Summit by margins of 18 and 24 points and fell to Raytown by 22 points.
Lee’s Summit West, which started the season 0-4 and 2-6, is above the .500 mark, but has still been outscored by its opponents on the season. The Titans are giving up an average of 55 points a game, while scoring 53 points a night themselves.
The lone common opponent for Nixa and Lee’s Summit West is Parkview. The Vikings beat the Titans 60-49 the first week of December. Nixa beat Parkview 48-44 and 44-40.
Nixa and Lee’s Summit West have not played each other dating back at least to the 2008-09 season.
On the gridiron, the Eagles have ended Lee’s Summit West’s season the past two years at Districts.
The rest of the Class 6 Quarterfinal matchups will include Blue Springs (24-5) against Staley (25-4), Chaminade College Prep (23-6) against Ft. Zumwalt South (26-2) and Christian Brothers College versus St. Louis University High (18-7).
Only two Nixa opponents are still alive. Father Tolton Catholic is in the Class 4 Elite Eight and Springfield Catholic is in the Class 5 Elite Eight.
Father Tolton beat Fair Grove in Sectionals earlier this week and got by Blair Oaks in a District final last week. Nixa played all three teams this season.
Milton (Georgia), which beat the Eagles at the Tournament Of Champions, was ousted in a quarterfinal round contest last weekend.
Bentonville West (Arkansas), which lost to Nixa in December, was eliminated in a first-round state tournament game this week.
