WARDSVILLE, Mo. - A day after forcing nearly 20 turnovers, the Blair Oaks Falcons gave the ball away 21 times Saturday in a 64-57 loss to the Willard Tigers.
It's just the third time this season the Falcons have scored fewer than 60 points, all coming against teams in either Class 4 of 5.
Blair Oaks, ranked No. 8 in Class 3 in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association poll, began the fourth quarter 1-of-7 from the field with two turnovers.
Willard shot 4-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line during that stretch, taking a 59-48 lead with 2:40 remaining.
"I thought we got careless with the ball a couple possession, they got a couple runouts for some easy buckets in transition," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "I thought we lost focus, a couple times a shot went up on their end and we had guys standing and watching while they pursued and got the rebounds.
"Just a couple lapses here and there. I thought a couple times we shot quick on the offensive end and didn't make them guard for very long."
Dylan Skinner hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Thomas Verslues got a quick layup to cut the deficit to six, but that's as close as the Falcons got.
The first minute of the game started as expected with Willard taking its time on offense. The pace quickly changed.
Tim Fick delivered a three-quarter court pass to Jason Rackers for a layup for the Falcons' first points of the game.
After a quick miss by the Tigers, Rackers sent a deep pass to Skinner for another swift bucket.
Houston Johnson converted a three-point play for Willard just eight seconds later.
The pace kept up for a bit but went back to normal once both teams began to turn it over and miss shots.
"It was a little quicker tempo earlier than I expected," Fick said. "If they don't get anything in transition they make pretty good decisions, and they're content with running their offense and they are pretty deliberant with their offense. They are going to make you guard until you fall asleep and then get the look they want."
Neither team led by more than four the entire first half as it ended with tied at 27.
The teams combined to score 12 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter, then picked up the pace again and combined for 25 points in the next four minutes.
Skinner drained back-to-back 3s, and Braydan Pritchett and Fick each added a 3 for the Falcons.
Skinner led Blair Oaks with 17 points, including going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Verslues was 5-of-5 from the field with 14 points. Fick scored 11.
"Dylan stepped up and knocked some shots down and got the momentum back in our favor," Fick said. "We just weren't able to maintain the momentum. They did what they needed to do. They beat us on the glass a little bit there in the fourth quarter."
Johnson converted a three-point play to close out the third quarter to give Willard a 46-45 lead.
Johnson tied for a game-high 17 points and recorded a game-high seven rebounds.
"They've got a great post player in Johnson," Fick said. "He and Jason were going back and forth all night on both ends of the floor. Anytime Jason caught it, he had two or three guys surrounding him. They had very active hands defensively, got a lot of tips on passes we were trying to make out of the post."
Rackers finished with eight points and a team-high six rebounds.
The first bucket of the fourth quarter came off a Blair Oaks turnover, but the Falcons only gave the ball away four times in the final eight minutes compared to eight in the first quarter.
"They were getting hands and deflection on passes we can typically make fairly easily," Fick said. "We adjusted well as the game went along. I thought we took care of the ball overall better in the second half. We just had a couple turnovers that stick out because they were in the midst of the run they made."
Blair Oaks won Saturday's JV game 45-36.
Dru Rackers scored 16 points for Blair Oaks (16-3), which will host California on Tuesday prior to the varsity contest.
"It's going to be high-energy, good crowd," Fick said. " The kids will be ready to play."