EUGENE, Mo. - There was no intention for the School of the Osage Indians to dwell on the past. The top seed in the Eugene Tournament wanted to at least salvage a trophy.
Osage put its semifinal loss to Blair Oaks in the past, finishing the week with a convincing 70-38 win against the Tuscumbia Lions on Saturday to take third place in the tournament.
"We talked about a couple things the kids brought up," Osage coach Kevin Schnicker said. "One of them was what got us here, won't get us there. That's been our theme since preseason.
"We can't stay thinking about things that have happened in the past."
Osage never trailed against Tuscumbia, holding the Lions scoreless for the first 4:23 of the game.
To make matters worse for Tuscumbia, David Huddleston picked up two fouls in the first quarter and went to the bench until halftime. Without him on the floor, the Lions were limited with their options for an inside presence.
"He gives us our size advantage down low, especially against these bigger schools," Tuscumbia coach Kyle Poynter said. "His pure size down low affects shots and when he posts up down low, he gives us a mismatch. We didn't have that in the first half."
Both teams got off to a slow start, with Osage leading 10-4 at the end of the first quarter. Then Osage took control in the second quarter, outscoring Tuscumbia 19-12 before cranking out 22 more points in the third quarter.
In a fast-paced contest, the Indians were content with letting Tuscumbia hurry the ball up the floor. The Lions had some difficult controlling the ball, committing 26 turnovers, and they also struggled shooting the ball, making just 20.9 percent of their shots.
"We thought we had to speed them up," Schnicker said. "We didn't really want to get into a half-court game with them. I think it wreaked havoc early in the game."
Ollie Patterson accounted for a bulk of Tuscumbia's offense, finishing with a game-high 18 points.
Osage extended its lead to 51-25 by the end of the third quarter, using a balanced scoring attack with six players finishing with seven points or more. Keyton Knamiller had a team-high 13 points and James McCann also scored 10 points. Payton Bartlett and Zach Wheeler each finished with nine points.
Osage (3-1) will host Iberia on Tuesday, while Tuscumbia (2-3) will play Prairie Home on Wednesday at the Pilot Grove Classic.
Poynter said he was pleased with his team's effort during the tournament, playing against bigger schools in all three games, a theme that also reflects most of Tuscumbia's remaining schedule.
"It's early in the season," Poynter said. "We've seen a lot of great things. If we can just keep progressing from here on, I think we're going to do well."