WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons went to-to-toe with the third-ranked team in Class 3 for most of Thursday night's game. Then it started to fall apart late in the third quarter.
Turnovers quickly added up, Springfield Central ran right down the floor for inside baskets and Blair Oaks couldn't recover as the Fightin' Irish pulled away for a 66-50 victory.
"They get that separation and sometimes we get a little anxious offensively," Blair Oaks coach Ryan Fick said.
Five turnovers in the final two minutes of the third quarter fueled a 9-0 run for the Irish.
A Zach Howell 3-pointer got it started then Jake Branham scored four straight points before Ben Galligos stole the ball away on an inbound for two more easy points for a 50-40 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Blair Oaks' last push was a pair of inside baskets for Dru Rackers and an open layup for Webb Villmer to cut a 14-point deficit to 10 in just a minute, but Rackers had to sit with his fourth foul and the Falcons failed to score for more than three minutes.
Branham, a 6-foot-2 guard, scored six points during a span of two and a half minutes in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory for the Irish. Branham scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and tied Blair Oaks big man Eric Northweather for a game-high eight rebounds.
"We knew he was their motor and we knew he was going to be a focal point," Fick said. "He got his points in the first half, but I thought we did a better job. He's a player. He took over in the second half. He willed them to score.
"He got to the basket and he's just so crafty he scored. That's a guy making plays and his teammates feed off of that. You can tell they are a team that's played a lot of basketball together over the years. Guys that play in the offseason, guys that get in the gym that work on their game."
Northweather took over for the Falcons in the first half.
He scored six straight points for Blair Oaks during a 9-3 run in the first quarter and finished with 15 points in the first half.
"He did a nice job," Fick said. "Pounded the ball inside, got some looks and we kind of got away from it. We play inside-out. When your post players are scoring, they are going to try to take that away and collapse and really crowd the lane. And I thought we got good looks from the perimeter. We just didn't knock enough shots down."
Cameron Hardwick came off the bench and drained a pair of 3-pointers to help the Falcons lead 18-13 after the first quarter, but Blair Oaks' only other make from deep was when Trent Martin tied the game at 35 with 6:12 left in the third quarter.
"Give him a lot of credit," Fick said of Hardwick. "He came in and brought some energy off the bench and gave us some momentum early. Unfortunately, as far as shooting the ball goes, it wasn't contagious. We haven't been very consistent from the perimeter. I think we're better shooters than we've shown."
Blair Oaks also struggled at the line, making 7-of-15 free throws.
"We've been a great free-throw shooting team so far," Fick said. " That's uncharacteristic for us."
Northweather made 3-of-4 at the line and 7-of-13 from the floor to lead Blair Oaks with 17 points. Rackers added 10 points.
It's possible Springfield Catholic (8-0) and Blair Oaks (4-3) will see each other again this season if both reach the quarterfinals, which the Irish did last season.
"We've got to learn from this game and it's got to show us that's where we want to be," Fick said. "We're obviously not there yet. This stretch that we've played, this gauntlet of our schedule is only going to make us better."
Blair Oaks is off until next Friday when it hosts Fatima.
"We've got some time and we haven't had that since the football guys have joined us," Fick said, "so we can kind of go back to the basics and kind of build from the ground up again."
Blair Oaks defeated Springfield Catholic in the JV game 56-33. Jacob Rademan and Luke Northweather scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Falcons.
Blair Oaks (5-1) will face Hallsville at 11:30 a.m. today in the championship game of its home JV tournament.