Live updates, scores from the 2021 Blue and Gold Tournament semifinals Wednesday – News-Leader

Halftime Kickapoo 35 Hartville 17

16-4 run for the Chiefs to end the half. Good adjustments from McHenry and has Hartville off its game. 

Brayden Shorter has 12 points.

2Q 4:45 Kickapoo 19 Hartville 13

Slowly but surely, the Eagles are climbing their way back into this game.

End 1Q Kickapoo 17 Hartville 8

Eagles are settled in but they’re going to have to battle their way back in after falling behind early.

1Q 5:43 Kickapoo 7 Hartville 0

Chiefs allllllll over Hartville in the early minutes. Zaide Lowery already with four.

Final Catholic 49 Nixa 48

4Q 21.8 Catholic 49 Nixa 48

Zach Howell picks up his fourth foul. Kael Combs splits his free throws. Ball goes out of bounds off Catholic on the inbounds pass.

4Q 35.9 Catholic 49 Nixa 47

Ty Lyon misses his free throws after a quick Nixa foul.

4Q 36.3 Catholic 49 Nixa 47

Ruffin called for a charge when going to the basket.

4Q 44.7 Catholic 49 Nixa 47

Colin Ruffin layup after a pair of Howell free throws. Catholic turns it over. Ruffin splits free throws. Nixa rebounds. 

4Q 1:35 Catholic 47 Nixa 44

Zach Howell missed the front-end of a one-and-one when Nixa had its entire team back. Nixa watched the ball bounce and Howell got the rebound before he called a timeout. 

4Q 2:44 Catholic 47 Nixa 44

Colin Ruffin has now caught fire and he knocks down a 3. He has 21 points.

4Q 2:58 Catholic 46 Nixa 41

Not so fast? Quick Nixa run after Ruffin gets a layup to fall through contact. Missed his free throw.

4Q 4:05 Catholic 44 Nixa 37

ANOTHER Zach Howell triple. He has five from deep.

4Q 5:22 Catholic 41 Nixa 32

Back-to-back Zach Howell 3-pointers and he’s up to 28 points. He’s been special tonight.

4Q 6:32 Catholic 35 Nixa 32

Colin Ruffin and Zach Howell exchange layups. 

End 3Q Catholic 33 Nixa 30

Headed to what should be a thrilling fourth quarter. High-level game between two of the area’s best.

Zach Howell is up to 20 points for the Fightin’ Irish.

3Q 1:37 Catholic 31 Nixa 27

Nixa switches to Kael Combs guarding Zach Howell. Howell draws contact and sinks his free throws. He has 18.

3Q 1:54 Catholic 29 Nixa 27

Liam O’Reilly picks up his fourth foul. That’s an important, athletic defensive player who has to sit for a little bit.

3Q 2:30 Catholic 27 Nixa 25

Nixa turning up the pressure defensively. A steal on the inbounds turns into two points from Ruffin who has 10.

3Q 2:43 Catholic 27 Nixa 23

Zach Howell up to 14 points. Nixa finally made both of its free throws.  

3Q 5:41 Catholic 23 Nixa 18

Zach Howell adds a second 3-pointer. Nixa not taking care of the ball early in the half.

Halftime Catholic 18 Nixa 16

We’re getting the close game we expected with Catholic up at the break. Zach Howell with seven points. Colin Ruffin with six at the break.

Free throw shooting has been horrendous on both sides.

2Q 3:29 Catholic 16 Nixa 12

Eagles struggling with free throws early. Lots of points left off the board. 

End 1Q Catholic 9 Nixa 6

Solid, up-tempo game to start this one. Ty Lyon leads with six points. Kael Combs has four.

1Q 2:00 Catholic 8 Nixa 6

Catholic with a quick 4-0 run behind a pair of Ty Lyon drives to the lane. 

1Q 3:41 Nixa 6 Catholic 4

Back-and-forth early on. Kael Combs with four after knocking down a pair of technical free throws. 

Welcome!

We’ve reached the semifinal round of the 2021 Blue and Gold Tournament and we’re in for a loaded night.

Four games will decide who will play in the two championship games on Thursday night at JQH Arena.

For the first game of the evening, Nixa will face Catholic with some of the top prospects in the region taking the floor. Nixa’s Colin Ruffin and Kael Combs will take on Catholic’s Zach Howell in a star-studded showdown.

Follow this page throughout the night for the latest from JQH Arena.

Tuesday’s coverage

• Here were the top performers of the quarterfinals
• Takeaways from the Blue Division quarterfinals
• Takeaways from the Gold Division quarterfinals
• Watch: Ozark tops Logan-Rogersville with buzzer-beater at 2021 Blue and Gold Tournament
• Greenwood basketball has its next special prospect in sophomore Tanner Jones
• Behind the beauty of Hartville boys basketball
• How Kickapoo boys basketball remains elite after losing 4 starters from state championship team

Wednesday’s Blue and Gold Tournament schedule

Blue Division winner’s (JQH)

4 p.m. — No. 1 Nixa vs. No. 4 Catholic

5:30 p.m. — No. 2 Kickapoo vs. No. 6 Hartville

Gold Division winner’s (JQH)

7 p.m. — No. 1 Bolivar vs. No. 5 Greenwood

8:30 p.m. — No. 2 Ozark vs. No. 4 Republic

Blue Division fifth-place (Hammons)

12:30 p.m. — No. 8 Fair Grove vs. Marshfield

2 p.m. — No. 3 Willard vs. No. 7 Branson

Gold Division fifth-place (Hammons)

7 p.m. — No. 4 Strafford vs. Central

8:30 p.m. — No. 3 Ava vs. No. 7 Logan-Rogersville

Blue consolation (Hammons)

9:30 a.m. — No. 5 Skyline vs. Ash Grove

11 a.m. — Mountain Grove vs. West Plains

Gold consolation (Hammons)

4 p.m. — Aurora vs. Spokane

5:30 p.m. — Crane vs. Stockton

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He’s also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.