WARDSVILLE, Mo. - Jason Rackers showed why he is the big man on campus.
The Blair Oaks 6-foot-6 senior couldn't be stopped Tuesday night. Rackers finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds, but his biggest contributions came in the second half when he played a key role during a 16-0 run by the Falcons.
The run sparked Blair Oaks to a 65-52 win against the Southern Boone Eagles, who are ranked No. 1 in Class 3 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and were previously undefeated entering the game.
Southern Boone edged Blair Oaks by one point earlier this month in the Tri-County Conference Tournament championship game, but the Falcons now hold a one-game lead against the Eagles in the regular-season conference standings.
"These types of games are the reasons the kids play and the coaches coach," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said. "You love these atmospheres. It's great high school basketball."
Blair Oaks trailed 37-34 with less than two minutes to play in the third quarter. Rackers scored on a putback and Thomas Verslues gave the Falcons a one-point lead with another basket.
After a reverse layup by Rackers, Dylan Skinner picked up a steal at half-court and drove in for a layup with :01 left, extending the Blair Oaks lead to 42-37 entering the fourth quarter.
"We knew we had the chance, and that little run right there gave us everything we needed to go get it," Rackers said.
The fun was just getting started for the Falcons.
Rackers scored inside off a lob pass just four seconds into the fourth quarter, then scored again in transition to push the lead to 46-37 only 30 seconds into the final quarter.
Southern Boone committed a turnover on its first three possessions of the fourth quarter, which allowed Blair Oaks to quickly build a double-digit lead.
"Our defensive energy was where we wanted it to be," Fick said. "We struggled at times being consistent on that end of the floor, but I thought we had a pretty good effort defensively tonight."
Rackers shot 12-of-16 from the field, despite being constantly double- and triple-teamed in the lane against the Eagles. When Southern Boone's Sam Stichnote picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and had to go to the bench, that's when Rackers began to go on his tear.
"Our guards did a great job of getting me the ball whenever I was open," Rackers said. "I was lucky enough to go finish."
Blair Oaks led by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter. Southern Boone cut the lead to 10 with 4:19 to play, but the Eagles couldn't get enough shots to fall. Southern Boone shot 1-of-7 from 3-point range in the final eight minutes.
The score was tied at 13 after one quarter and Blair Oaks never trailed in the second quarter. The Falcons led by seven points, but Southern Boone scored five points in the final 10 seconds of the first half to trim the Blair Oaks lead to 27-25 at intermission.
"We talked about how good they are out of the gate," Fick said. "The first time we played them, we were down 19-4 right off the bat and we spent the entire night trying to climb out of that hole.
"They do that to a lot of teams, so we knew we had to get off to a fast start."
The Falcons managed to overcome 13 turnovers in the first half, flipping the script in the second half with 13 points off turnovers.
Blair Oaks had four players score in double figures and five players grabbed five or more rebounds. Verslues finished with 13 points, while Tim Fick added 11 points and Skinner chipped in 10.
Zane Safley led Southern Boone (15-1, 2-1 Tri-County) with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Scheer had 13 points and Stichnote finished with 11.
"This was definitely a preview of what you're going to see here in a little under a month for districts," Fick said. Blair Oaks will host the Class 3 District 9 Tournament, which includes Southern Boone, as well as Father Tolton, Hermann, St. James and Fatima. Six of the eight teams in the district are currently above the .500 mark.
Blair Oaks (14-3, 2-0 Tri-County) will take a break from conference play when it hosts Linn on Friday.
In the JV game, Blair Oaks won 50-45 to improve to 9-1. Dru Rackers led the Falcons with 15 points and Trent Martin scored 14 points.
Blair Oaks started the tripleheader sweep with a 45-43 overtime win in the freshman game. David Dell posted a team-high 18 points and Sam Luebbering added 15 points for Blair Oaks (5-6).