WARDSVILLE, Mo. - It wasn't a good start for the Blair Oaks Falcons. It wasn't the best finish either.
But a career-high 34 points and 11 rebounds from Jason Rackers did the trick as the Falcons held off the California Pintos 66-57 on Tuesday in Tri-County Conference action.
Blair Oaks led by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter. Then the Pintos scored nine points in about a minute as part of a 15-3 run to cut the margin to five with 1:47 left to play. Seven of the Falcons' 19 turnovers came in the final eight minutes.
"They ramped up their defensive intensity there in the fourth quarter and we didn't handle it very well," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "We started throwing it around, started going faster than we wanted to, throwing the ball out of bounds and just didn't take care of the basketball."
After being held to two points for nearly the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, Rackers made 3-of-4 at the free-throw line and added a two-handed dunk to stop the Pintos' comeback.
"We went away from him for a while, but give California credit because they did a good job at keeping him from getting the ball in the second half I thought," Fick said. "He wasn't making any free cuts anywhere. He was getting bumped, they did a good job of staying between him and the ball. We didn't do a very good job at reversing the ball and looking for him on the seal. We went away from him for too long in the second half. Early on we settled for 3s on too many possessions before we started getting him the ball."
Seven of the Falcons' 13 first-quarter shots were from beyond the arc.
California led 9-6 following a Luke Freeman jumper at the 3:34 mark of the opening quarter.
"We weren't ready to play. It continued for much of the first quarter," Fick said. "We weren't focused. Defensively, I thought California moved the ball extremely well. We didn't do a very good job at talking on screens, we didn't communicate very well. I thought California got pretty much any look they wanted all night. Luckily for us, they didn't knock a ton of shots down."
The Pintos finished 21-of-60 from the field, including 4-of-14 from 3-point range.
The Falcons got going late in the first quarter as Thomas Verslues, who scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, made one of his three 3s and Rackers converted a three-point play to help close the quarter on a 9-2 run.
Rackers then showed off his jump shot, making four of them in the second quarter to get his first-half total to 17 points.
Rackers missed his first shot attempt of the night before rolling off 14 straight makes.
"He has the ability to step out and knock that 15- to 17-footer down and he did tonight," Fick said. "That built us the lead and kept us from being ugly."
The Falcons led 35-26 at halftime and began the second half on an 11-2 run. Eight of those points came from Rackers.
"He's one heck of a player and we knew that," California coach Mark Moulder said. "It's difficult to guard him because he jumps over you and shoots over the top of you. We don't have anybody with the size to handle that."
Blair Oaks led 52-35 by the end of the third quarter and 57-40 with 5:55 left to play.
Jacob Wolken, who had 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, started an 11-0 run with a layup.
The score was 60-55 after a Wolken free throw, but that's as close as the Pintos got.
Blair Oaks closed the game on a 6-2 run.
"We had chances, didn't take advantage of some situations, got beat up on the boards a little bit, didn't finish a few plays, but overall it's something you can build off of," Moulder said.
Isaac Ash was California's second leading scorer with 11 points. Wyatt Bestgen finished with 10 points for California.
Tuesday was Senior Night for the Falcons as Rackers, Verslues, Dylan Skinner, Ben Ward and Clayton Backes started the contest and were honored prior to the game.
Tuesday's game concluded the regular season for California (9-14, 2-5 Tri-County), which is seeded fourth in the Class 3 District 13 Tournament that begins next week.
Blair Oaks will (20-4, 6-0) will conclude the regular season Friday at School of the Osage. A win for the Falcons will lock up the Tri-County championship.
Blair Oaks won Tuesday's JV game 58-29 to improve to 17-3 on the season.
Dru Rackers led the Falcons with 11 points.
In the freshman game, the Falcons won 56-32.
Jacob Rademan scored 15 points while Sam Luebbering chipped in with 12.