The No. 1 seeded Wellsville-Middleton Tigers entered Friday night’s Class 1, District 10 championship game in Pilot Grove against the No. 2 seed Higbee Tigers, with three goals in mind. With a 38-34 win, they accomplished all three. The first goal, was to play their own game, slowing the pace to not allow the high-octane offense of Higbee intimidate them. Higbee entered the game averaging 75.2 points per game while Wellsville-Middleton averaged 47.6. 

Wellsville-Middleton’s offense slowed the game to a snail’s pace, taking the ball to the Wellsville end of the court and allowing the clock to wind down. The Tigers would often not even let the ball touch the court as they passed the ball sometimes a dozen times before taking a shot.

Playing it’s own game allowed Wellsville-Middleton to accomplish it’s second goal which was to keep the ball out of the hands of Higbee sophomores Jordan Fuemmeler and Derek Rockett, the Higbee Tiger’s one-two punch that had spelled trouble for opposing teams all season Entering Friday’s title game, Fuemmeler averaged 25.4 points per game and Rockett averaged 19.5. Under the Wellsville-Middleton game plan, while Rockett netted 19 points, Fuemmeler was held to only nine.

The third goal of Wellsville-Middleton was of course, to win the game and advance to the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s State Championship bracket. “Wellsville-Middleton was a Class 2 semifinalist a year ago,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “It’s unfortunate the way the game played out. Wellsville played the game for time of possession. We went to a man defense late and got to within three points twice late in the fourth, but missed couple of close shots to close the game to one. We gave ourselves a chance to be successful, but I didn’t make adjustments soon enough for it to work.”

For a while Friday night, it looked as if neither team was going to score until Rockett broke the ice with a 3-pointer with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Following that, both team’s scoring drought continued until 1:38 remained in the period.when Wellsville- Middleton’s Logan Pursifull put up a 2-pointer to make the score 3-2 where it remained until the end of the quarter.

The second quarter showed little more offense for either team. Wellsville-Middleton added10 points to it’s total while Higbee was only able to manage four. The two teams went into the locker room at intermission with the score 12-7 in favor of Wellsville-Middleton.

The third period showed both teams putting nine points on the board to make the score 21-16 with Wellsville-Middleton still leading by five heading into the final quarter.

Considering Wellsville-Middleton’s ability to hold onto the ball, Higbee’s fourth-quarter strategy called for the Tigers to foul in hopes of gaining possession after a missed free throw. Unfortunately, of the 22 free throws taken by Wellsville-Middleton, 14 were made,giving Wellsville-Middleton the 38-34 win.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “In the last two weeks we have battled with six kids presenting with flu-like symptoms, three nagging ankle injuries and a lower back injury. Last year we were extremely fortunate with our health. You don’t realize how much that matters until you have a season like this.”

Rockett scored 14 of his game high 19 points in the fourth quarter, but it was not quite enough to overcome the Wellsville-Middleton lead. Fuemmeler scored nine points on the night. Seniors Malaki Squires and Jamie Smith, along with sophomore Jaxon Hudson each netted two points in the game. 

“I’m extremely proud of our senior class,” said Burton. “ Malaki Squires, Luke Ritter, and Jamie Smith saw it all in their careers and will have memories that will be talked about all of their lives. They changed the culture and worked hard to be role models in our program.”

Higbee finished the season at 26-3 while Wellsville-Middleton moved to 18-6.

Wellsville-Middleton moved on to play Northwest (Hughesville) on Tuesday in a game that was contested after The Advertiser went to press.