SPRINGFIELD - The regular season could only prepare the Chamois Pirates for so much. There wasn't much they could do to prepare for the defense they faced Friday night at JQH Arena.
The Eminence Redwings forced 16 turnovers and held Chamois all-stater Aaron Brandt without a point for the first 28 minutes. The Pirates lost 50-36 in their Final Four debut, matching their second-lowest point total of the season.
"I thought they did a really good job," Chamois coach Kyle Burkett said of Eminence. "Every time Aaron was catching it, they were doubling him. I thought they did a very good job defensively against us."
On the other hand, Chamois held Eminence to its second-lowest point total this season as well. The Redwings entered the Class 1 semifinals averaging 72.0 points per game.
Burkett said holding Eminence to 50 points was an ideal number.
"I would've liked our chances (to win)," he said. "I would've said we'd be right there."
Chamois never trailed in the game's opening six minutes. Devin Warren knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner on the Pirates' first possession to get things going.
Eminence took its first lead on a turnaround jumper by Grant Dyer with 1:44 left in the opening quarter. The Redwings ended the quarter on a 10-2 run to lead 17-11.
"We knew going in it was going to be a grind," Eminence coach Pete McBride said. "The last few games have been real up-tempo, and we knew it was going to be different for us.
"We talked about trying to win the first quarter 13-8, that type of score, and it was pretty similar to what the quarter was."
Charles Roberts scored on a putback on Chamois' first possession of the second quarter, but the Pirates were held to one field goal the rest of the half, as Eminence built a 29-15 halftime lead.
"We had a few breakdowns where we lost a few guys for easy buckets," Burkett said. "We got out of position a couple times."
The Pirates were held to a pair of field goals in the third quarter as well, falling behind 39-20 entering the fourth quarter.
That's when Eminence began to hold the ball, caring less and less about putting up more and more points.
"We were just trying to kill clock and end the game," McBride said. "It got a little sloppy, but still, I trust my team and they know what to do."
Brandt got his first points of the game with 3:56 to play. He was fouled attempting a 3-point shot and made 2-of-3 free throws to close the gap to 43-26.
About a minute later, Brandt hit an off-balanced 3-pointer from the corner as he fell out-of-bounds, snapping his 0-for-7 slump. He followed that with a 3-point play with 2:07 left to pull Chamois within 11 points at 45-34.
"We got close and were a basket away from getting it to single digits," Burkett said. "If you can cut it to single digits, that's a morale booster for everybody.
"I'm proud of these guys for not quitting and not giving up. That game was getting to the point where we could have definitely thrown the towel in."
That would be the Pirates' last field goal of the game. Although Eminence made just 3-of-7 free throws in the final two minutes, Chamois would pull its starters with :46 remaining in the game as the Redwings pushed their lead back to 14 points.
Kyle Bockting led Chamois with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Despite his shooting woes, Brandt grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and still finished two points shy of a double-double.
"That was the best defense I've ever played against," Brandt said. "They were really smart, they were quick."
Trent McBride finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead Eminence (31-1), which has won 31 straight and advances to the Class 1 state championship game at 4:30 p.m. today.
The Redwings, ranked No. 2, will face seventh-ranked Walnut Grove (22-10), which got the go-ahead basket from reigning Class 1 player of the year Logan Thomazin in the final minute to beat top-ranked North Andrew 51-50 in Friday's other semifinal.
Chamois (21-10) will face North Andrew (28-1) at 12:50 p.m. today for third place at JQH Arena. The Cardinals were the last remaining undefeated boys basketball team in Missouri.
"We'll watch some film, go over a few things with these boys and come and play basketball," Burkett said. "We'll play as hard as we can, and that's all I can ask for. We'll be able to live with ourselves after that for sure."