There wasn't much Jefferson City coach Tony Phillips could say except, "What do you do?"
The Greenwood Blue Jays brought two starters with Division I offers and a plethora of excellent guard play to Fleming Fieldhouse on Saturday.
"I don't know how you go beat them versus them beating themselves," Phillips said after the Jays' 80-36 defeat against Greenwood, a Class 3 team from Springfield.
Michael Onunkwor scored the game's first points on a reverse layup. Greenwood scored the next 22 points.
Midway through the first quarter, Nicholas Burri stole the ball away on back-to-back Jefferson City possessions and both led to layups for Grant Harper, who made 6-of-7 shots for 12 points.
"He makes them go," Phillips said of the 5-foot-11 guard. "He's a pretty special player."
After a traveling violation, Aminu Mohammed, a 6-foot-5 senior who's rated as a 5-star recruit, put in a layup for an 18-2 lead.
Mohammed finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds, while also presenting his passing ability to the Jays by finding teammates for layups.
"He's strong, he's got good feet," Phillips said. "I think he's a better outside shooter than what we saw today. How do you want to defend him?"
Mohammed had a pair of dunks in the third quarter to help push the Blue Jays' lead to 69-31 heading to the fourth quarter.
For his final bucket, Mohammed swished in a 3-pointer from the wing with a hand in his face to put Greenwood ahead 74-33 with 6:16 remaining in the game.
Victory Naboya, a 6-8 sophomore, scored 14 points off the bench and Kaden Stuckey, a 6-7 junior, was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and added a free throw for 13 points.
After trailing 33-7 after eight minutes of play, Jefferson City outscored Greenwood (4-0) 17-15 in the second quarter to trail 48-24 at halftime.
Onunkwor scored five of his team-high 11 points in the second quarter, including a three-point play off an offensive rebound. The 6-2 junior also led the Jays with eight rebounds.
"Michael carried us there in the second quarter," Phillips said. "His energy, and he competed. Michael's not a post player, but he's gotta play down there for us. He's accepted that and and he's gonna have some big nights for us."
Kevion Pendelton had both of Jefferson City's makes from 3-point range on his way to 10 points.
"He's a gamer," Phillips said. "I hate that term, but he's a gamer."
Jefferson City (1-4) is back Fleming Fieldhouse on Friday when it hosts Ozark. The JV game will start at 5 p.m. with the varsity game to follow around 6:30 p.m.
"We're getting better," Phillips said. "It's hard to see that times, but I know we are. I'll be anxious to see how we grow from here."
Jefferson City won Saturday's JV game against Greenwood 67-27.
Steven Samuels scored 22 points to lead the Jays.