There was enough for Ozark players, coaches and fans to like from what they saw and heard Friday to take away any sting from the Tigers’ 61-54 loss to Columbia Hickman.
Perhaps the most welcomed sound for Ozark thus far in the new year was center Cohen George all but demanding the ball while looking to shoot.
With two-plus minutes remaining and the Tigers trailing by five, George initially turned down the chance to take an open 3-pointer and passed the ball to guard Hudson Roberts. Immediately, he wanted the ball again.
“I called for it back and shot it up,” George said. “It didn't go in, but hopefully the next one will.”
Pre-season expectations for the 6-foot-9 George were high, after a strong finish to his sophomore season. But he was mostly a missing piece offensively for Ozark in the 2023 portion of its schedule, as he didn’t show much assertiveness to shoot.
George’s missed 3 notwithstanding, his six-point effort Friday triggered optimism for the rest of his junior season.
“All summer, I worked on staying confident in myself and getting my game going. But I've struggled with trying to find a good role this season,” George said. “Tonight, I think I got it by crashing the boards and going strong to the rim.
"In practice, I've been getting up more shots and I've been super confident in my shot,” he added. “Tonight I was finding confidence to shoot the ball more.”
George has proven he has the range to hit 3s.
“Last year down the stretch, I got pretty good at it,” he said. “When I was getting open 3s, I was knocking them down. I've made it a focus to shoot them when I'm open and be confident.”
Ozark coach Mark Schweitzer was happy to see George have the moxie to take a shot under pressure and encouraged by his overall effort.
“Cohen played great,” Schweitzer said. “This was the Cohen George that we knew we had. Hopefully, he'll take off from here. He's very important to us getting a lot better.”
“Cohen is going to be a big piece to this team,” Roberts added. “When he's playing well, we're playing well.”
Ozark (4-9) played well enough to win against many teams. The Tigers shot 51 percent from the field (23-of-45) and were 6-of-15 shooting 3s.
Ozark jumped on top 10-4 and put up 17 points in the first six minutes. The Tigers were 9-of-13 shooting in the first quarter.
Hickman (9-1), ranked No. 8 in Class 6, was fresh from a win against Vianney, ranked No. 2 in Class 5. Vianney beat SWMO's best team, Springfield Central, earlier this season.
The Kewpies never could separate themselves from Ozark. Their biggest lead was eight points.
The teams were tied at 38 in the third quarter. A Roberts 3-pointer with :51 remaining pulled the Tigers within one of the lead, 55-54. Hickman closed by scoring the final six points.
“That's a really good team. We took them down to the wire and had chances to win,” Schweitzer said. “We’ve got to get better at late-game situations and make smarter decisions.
“But our kids showed grit that I've been waiting to see out of them,” he added. “They did a great job of putting to use the things we were working on this past week. This was the best game we have executed a game plan and the results speak for themselves.”
Schweitzer credited his players for the unity and resilience they’ve shown following a disappointing loss to Branson at the Blue & Gold Tournament.
“They have faced a lot of adversity,” he said. “They’re sticking together. They’re bonding. Tonight proved to me they're still with me. The vibe we have in the locker room is improving. We've got to keep forming a team. I don't think we've played as a team very well. But I think we're moving in that direction and tonight was a big step in that direction.”
“We played the best that we have as a team,” Roberts said. “We want to pull wins out. But I think the energy is going to be high after this game. We played really well against a really good team.”
Roberts scored 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting. It didn’t take Hickman long to target him, leading to Roberts often having to beat two defenders to get a shot off.
“After I got my first couple of shots, they went full face-guard on me,” Roberts said. “It was hard to get shots. But that's nothing that I'm not accustomed to. I had a bad shooting night. No excuse for that.”
Forward Jace Whatley scored 11 points and turned in a productive night on the boards.
“He could have had a lot more (points),” Schweitzer said. “When he's having a good game, we've got to get it in there to him. I thought we missed him late. We stopped going to him. We need to look at the film and point that out to our guards. That's one of the things we've got to get better at.”
Hickman stays in Christian County to take on Nixa (9-3) today at 2:30 p.m.
