ASHLAND, Mo. - Southern Boone senior Nick Carlos could see his high school basketball career winding down. He simply wasn't ready for it to end.
The forward scored a career-high 47 points, including a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime as Southern Boone escaped with a 92-86 victory against Eugene in the semifinals of the Class 3 District 8 Tournament on Saturday night.
"I don't want it to end," Carlos said. "This is my only sport. This would have been heartbreaking. We're a team filled with seniors, we didn't want it to end and we obviously showed it in that last part."
Carlos, who also grabbed 20 rebounds, did most of his damage in the fourth quarter and overtime where he scored 25 points.
He said he'd never been a part of a game like this with so many twists and turns, especially late.
Eugene jumped out to a 19-7 lead and held on strong, leading 51-38 heading into the fourth quarter. But Southern Boone, thanks in large part to Carlos, wouldn't go away.
Eugene led 70-66 before Carlos made a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to cut the lead to 70-69. After Eugene hit two free throws with 4.9 seconds left, Carlos drove the length of the floor to tie the game at the buzzer. He was basically unguarded all the way down the floor.
"He's our all-star, he really had to do that for the team," Southern Boone coach Andy Jansen said of Carlos.
With the momentum on its side, overtime was never in doubt as Southern Boone built a quick advantage. With Cody Shaw on the bench for Eugene after fouling out, it was too much for the Eagles to overcome.
"You knew with our starting point guard out it was going to be tough in overtime," Eugene coach Craig Engelbrecht said.
Eugene led 19-2 before Southern Boone closed the first quarter on a 5-0 run. But Eugene remained in front until the end, when Carlos took the game over.
"I told our team before the game that Eugene was a team of runs," Jansen said. "We were prepared for that."
Blake Lammers added 21 points for Southern Boone, all of them in the second half.
Tyler Kempker led Eugene with 23 points. Shaw added 20 while Drew Geritz added 12.
Eugene, which ends the season at 19-8, couldn't come up with a key stop when it needed to, especially in the fourth quarter.
"They made more plays than we did," Engelbrecht said.
Southern Boone (20-6) plays Hallsville for the district title at 6:30 p.m. today.