After receiving a black eye earlier in the week, Noah Engelman had 15 rebounds to show for his efforts Friday from Nixa’s 68-46 Class 6 District 5 semifinal win versus Joplin.
Sporting a shiner to his left eye, Engelman looked the part of an under-sized 6-foot-3 center who went up against the COC’s two tallest front lines over a span of three nights.
He took an inadvertent elbow to his eye while playing against Ozark’s duo of 6-9 Cohen George and 6-5 Jace Whatley.
“I was phased for a second, but was good,” Engelman said.
Normally an off-the-radar type, Engelman’s black eye proved to be quite the attention-getting at school Thursday and Friday.
“A lot of people asked me questions about it at school,” he said. “It’s all right.”
Engelman rebounded from a poor night on the boards against Ozark to post his best rebounding effort opposite a Joplin front line of 6-5 Terrance Gibson and 6-7 Whit Hafer. The latter is a verbal commit as a tight end to Mizzou.
“They were bigger and stronger than me, so I had to get low and get good position on them before they could get good position on me,” Engelman said. “All I can really do try to get there before they do.”
Forward Josh Peters fell one point short of a double-double. He collected nine points and 10 rebounds.
“Gibson and Hafer, they’s very big dudes,” Peters said. “Keeping them out of the paint was difficult, but we managed. We’re proud of our rebounding tonight.”
Engelman felt Nixa fell into the trap of being a bit complacent on the boards while rolling to a third straight outright COC championship and fourth straight league title overall.
The champs won their final four conference games by an average margin of more than 23 points a game.
“Sometimes, when we’re beating not so good rebounding teams and we’re cruising past people, you kind of forget the fundamentals,” Engelman said. “Ozark killed us on the glass offensively. It’s definitely good to get a wakeup call every once in a while.”
Nixa had everyone crashing the boards against Joplin.
“It was definitely a team effort,” guard Corey Kemp said. “Noah got in there and got the tough boards and so did Josh. I even got in there a few times. That was a game-changer, the boards.”
Kemp showed his 15-point night against Ozark in the opening round was no fluke by netting 16 points. He has five 3-pointers in two District games.
“I feel so loose now. I feel better with my shot and more comfortable with it,” Kemp said.
Backup guard Devon Kemp also had a pair of 3-pointers while scoring nine points.
“I’ve learned when not to shoot because I don’t always take great shots. I’ve gotten better about that,” Devon said, “If (defenses) give me at least a foot or so, I know I can get my shot off. Sometimes, I don’t even think, I just shoot it. That’s what (works) best.”
Nixa (28-0) endured a stretch in which it missed 10 of 11 3-point attempts from the end of the first quarter to the start of the third quarter. Blansit bunch finished 9-of-27 shooting 3s on the night.
Kael Combs swished a trio of 3s in his 19-point night. The standards for SWMO’s best player are a bit higher, though, as he didn't shoot as well in traffic in the paint as he is accustomed to.
Watch out when Combs breaks out.
In the other semifinal, Kickapoo downed Republic 59-49.
With Webb City and Branson losing District semifinal games in Class 5, Nixa is the only COC team still standing.
Nixa and Kickapoo (20-8) will battle for the District title at 6 p.m. Monday. This is the fifth straight post-season the Eagles and Chiefs will face each other.
Nixa 68, Joplin 46
JOPLIN (46) — Wright 8 3-5 20, Renfro 4 0-0 9, Gibson 4 2-5 10, Hafer 3 0-2 7.
NIXA (68) — Peters 4 0-0 9, Engelman 3 0-0 6, C. Kemp 6 2-2 16, Combs 6 4-4 19, D. Kemp 2 3-4 9, Seitz 1 0-0 3, McCoy 0 2-2 2, Cantwell 2 0-0 4.
Joplin 13 11 11 11 - 46
Nixa 20 13 13 22 - 68
3-point goals - Combs 3, C. Kemp 2, D. Kemp 2, Peters, Seitz, Wright, Renfro, Hafer.
