Monroe City makes tournament’s centennial celebration unforgettable with OT victory

MONROE CITY, Mo. — The shot was as clutch as the roar that followed was deafening.

The crowd inside the Monroe City High School gym erupted when Ryan Moss, a senior guard on the Monroe City boys basketball team, drained a 3-pointer to tie Palmyra at 42 with 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Monroe City Tournament championship game.

“I’m not going to lie, after I hit that three, I could not hear anything,” Moss said.

Moss’ triple sent the game to overtime, and Monroe City edged out Palmyra 51-47 in the extra period to capture the title in the 100th iteration of the tournament.

“It’s a big deal for this community,” Moss said. “You could feel that all week, just the pressure building. To be able to pull through on the last day, that’s huge. You could just feel that the whole community rallied around us today.”

Just to get to overtime, Monroe City had to survive two free throws by Palmyra junior guard Ryan McKinney with 2.7 seconds left. McKinnney missed the first free throw, and instead of calling timeout to discuss strategy after that miss, Monroe City coach Brock Edris chose to ride it out.

“In those situations, sometimes you feel like it’s better not to call a timeout. Maybe a kid’s nerves get settled down if you call a timeout,” Edris said. “I was just like, ‘Let’s see what this first one brings.’ After he misses the first one, it makes the second one a little tougher to make. 

“We decided to roll with it. I don’t like to gamble, but sometimes when you’re coaching, you have to take that gamble.”

The gamble paid off. McKinney missed the second free throw, Monroe City junior guard Quincy Mayfield tracked down the loose rebound and the fourth quarter clock ran out.

Mayfield’s contested layup over McKinney gave Monroe City a 46-45 lead with 1:46 left in overtime. With a minute left, Luke Sheppard fouled Mayfield, and Mayfield sank both free throws to extend Monroe City’s lead to 48-45.

After Palmyra sophomore guard Hudson Bock made a fallaway jumper to trim Monroe City’s lead to one on the ensuing possession, Pierce White fouled Monroe City senior guard Trey Smyser on the inbounds pass with 38.5 seconds left.

Smyser gave himself a pep talk before stepping to the free-throw line.

“I just told myself that I’m a dog, I’ve worked for this and I’m going to clutch this for my team,” Smyser said.

Smyser made both foul shots, pushing Monroe City’s lead back to 50-47. Seven seconds later, Abram Smyser fouled McKinney on a drive to the basket. Again, McKinney missed both free throws. Monroe City junior forward Blake Pfanner secured the rebound and outletted the ball to Toby Sapp, who was fouled by Noah Williams. 

Sapp missed both free throws, and Palmyra’s Mason Smith rebounded the second miss. Smith brought the ball up the court and lost it on the way to the hoop. Pfanner forced a jump ball, and the possession arrow gave the ball to Monroe City.

“Toby did a great job of knocking it loose,” Pfanner said. “I saw it and I knew I had to go get it to help ice this game for us.”

Pfanner received the inbounds pass and was fouled by Williams. Pfanner missed the first free throw, then Palmyra coach Brian Rea called his final timeout.

In the Monroe City huddle, Pfanner received plenty of encouragement from his mates.

“We came into that huddle in that timeout and we told him, ‘Hey this is what you do at practice,’” Moss said. “I had all the trust in him.”

Pfanner felt just as confident as his teammates did.

“They all believed in me,” Pfanner said. “I knew I could do it. All the guys believed in me, told me to knock it down, go win this game, bring it home.”

Pfanner proved his comrades right by sinking the second free throw and making it a two-possession game with 16.5 seconds left.

“I felt relieved,” Pfanner said. “I felt more confident that we could pull this thing out.”

A slow-developing Palmyra possession ended in a Bock 3-point attempt with five seconds left. Monroe City sophomore guard Cole Hays snatched the rebound, and as time ran out, the Monroe City student section stormed the court.

“That was the loudest crowd I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Trey Smyser said. “I literally couldn’t hear anything. I had to cover my ears multiple times. It was insane.”

The tournament’s 100th anniversary provided a storybook backdrop for Monroe City’s dramatic victory.

“That’s beyond special,” Trey Smyser said.

Winning that championship against an archrival is even sweeter.

“It’s awesome,” Pfanner said. “There’s a great legacy behind this. It’s great to bring it home. Especially against Palmyra, it feels even better.”

Palmyra’s self-inflicted wounds — 10 missed free throws and McKinney’s missed layup that would have given Palmyra a five-point lead with 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter — left a bitter taste in Rea’s mouth.

“We did it to ourselves,” Rea said. “If we do the things we’re supposed to do, we win the ball game. They did a good job. They deserve to win since we didn’t do everything we were supposed to do. We have to come together more as a team and play better especially in tough situations. Trust what we’re doing, trust each other, and we’ll be OK.”

Edris’ squad etched its name in history, and it would not have been possible without Moss’ heroics.

“Ryan’s a really good shooter,” Edris said. “Hopefully 100 years from now, people will look back and they’ll be able to see this team across that booklet.”