Johnie Logue
Sports Reporter
When a game is on the line, you want the Bluebirds' Ethan Shearer to have the ball. Simple as that. The senior guard hit an NBA buzzer-beater three point bank shot in the third overtime to give Cole Camp a 54-51 victory over North Callaway at Capital City on Monday night in the opening sectional round of the 2023 MSHSAA Class 3 State Basketball Tournament. He did basically the same thing last year in the sectional round. Maybe we should just call him "Buzzer-Beater" as he hit another one in the first overtime to save the day for Cole Camp.
Shearer missed all four of his shots in the first quarter as Cole Camp went scoreless in a baseball-like first quarter score of 3-0.
The second quarter wasn't much better as both teams struggled scoring with a football like halftime score of 12-6. Shearer did all of their scoring hitting two threes.
Clayton Moore guarded Gentry Dieckman in the first half while Isaiah Creighead guarded the 6'6" forward in the second half limiting him to seven points on the night.
Coach Shearer said, "This was a physical game. Gentry is a great player and needed a game like this. He came on big down the stretch."
The biggest factor on defense was 6'6" Trenton Jones, who had more blocks than the official scorer could count and a slew of deflections.
Coach Shearer said, "He was the greatest defender under the basket I have ever seen."
The third period saw Cole Camp come alive taking a 21-20 lead.
In the fourth, with the game tied with 7.4 seconds to go, Shearer showed his quarterback arm with a length of the court pass to Dieckman only to have Jones block two shots. Cole Camp had a five point lead with a minute to go and people had headed to the door only to see North Callaway come back. Time ran out with the game tied at 33.
In the first overtime, North Callaway had it won only to have Shearer hit a well guarded three at the buzzer to make it 40-40.
The second overtime saw both teams revert back to their first half struggles scoring just three points a piece with a 43-43 deadlock.
In the third overtime, Owen Ives forced a huge turnover as Cole Camp took a 51-48 lead. Samuel Pezold then hit a game tying three for North Callaway.
With three seconds left, the pass came into Ives who dribbled and passed to Shearer, who took two dribbles across half court and launched an approximately 38 foot bomb that hit the backboard and rattled in for the game winner.
Cole Camp fans went belistic and the North Callaway crowd stood froze in disbelief.
Matthew Weber, North Callaway's all-time leading scorer, who kept his team in the game with threes and short jumpers, had 24 points for the Thunderbirds after twisting his ankle in the first quarter.
Cole Camp's clutch player, Shearer had a lot to say after the game, "We didn't play our best game tonight, but we found a way to win. We had been in three overtimes before against Stover last year in the district championship. I told Reid (Harrison) that somebody has to be the killer and want the ball. This wasn't just about me. It was about my team. I told my guys to get me the ball. Their diamond and two hurt us but our shots started falling."
Harrison hit some big late threes for 18 points to help the cause in a complete team effort. Shearer had 23. Michael Wissman had one of the biggest layups in the fourth quarter of his career.
Coach Shearer said, "I kept big Mike out for a long time and he surprised them at the end."
Cole Camp went 14-22 from the line.
Cole Camp moved to 22-7 and North Callaway ended their season at 16-13.
COLE CAMP (54): Shearer 23, Strathman 2, Harrison 18, Dieckman 7, Wissman 4.
NORTH CALLAWAY (51): Weber 24, Pezold 7, Jones 7, Craighead 4, O'Neal 14.
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There were great similarities between this season and last year's for the Cole Camp boys basketball team.
Both teams lost in the quarterfinals after buzzer beaters by Ethan Shearer in the sectionals. Both teams experienced a post regular season three overtime game. Last year was over Stover in the finals of district play and this year was against North Callaway in sectional play.
Friday night saw the Bluebirds lose to Lutheran North, 41-28 in Moberly, MO. The final score is misleading as Cole Camp trailed by a single point with 3:30 to go. Costly turnovers and free throws made by Lutheran North stretched the score beyond reach as time expired. The Bluebirds were hindered by a 1-3-1 zone defense.
Coach Shearer commented, "Yes, we had to take some risks and they capitalized, it was 29-28 with 3:30 left, we could just not score in the last 3 minutes."
It was 16-4 after one. Michael Wissman, the Bluebirds' big 6'4", 325 pound center, powered in a couple of layups for Cole Camp's first quarter points.
Lutheran North led 26-12 at the half.
It was 29-21 after three. Lutheran North decided to pull the ball out and run the clock with five minutes left.Unless you have Phil Ford, that move too early usually backfires and it did in this case as the Bluebirds closed the gap. It was 29-28 with 3:30 left in the game.
Free throws were a huge difference as Cole Camp was 3-3 and Lutheran was 11-15. Reid Harrison was 2-2 and Gentry Dieckman was 1-1. For Lutheran North, Jacinth Prude was 4-4, Jameer Cretter was 5-6, Davell Long 2-2 and their big man Amez Newton was 0-3.
Lutheran North had 17 points off turnovers compared to six for Cole Camp. Ethan Shearer was held to just two points in the contest.
Coach Shearer commented on the game and their season, "LN was the most athletic team we had seen since last summer at Columbia Hickman Camp, Athleticism like that must be beat with discipline and toughness and we just could not pull it off."
Lutheran North made an effort to take Shearer away and did a good job at that.
"The LN assistant and myself have coached against each other dating back to this team in junior high and before with the Lutheran School state tournament. He knows me very well and our LSA kids; it was an asset to LN, its a interesting story and I enjoyed seeing him and competing against him," said Coach Shearer.
"The LN head coach played for him when he was a player and I had 2 of my ex-players on my bench, it was a good night except the loss," he added.
Cole Camp ended up 22-8 in a season with highs and lows.
Coach Shearer commented, "Ups and downs are caused by a team trying to find an identity and we did towards the end of the year when it counted and I am proud of the boys."
COLE CAMP (28): Shearer 2, Harrison 10, Dieckman 9, Howard 3, Wissman 4.
LUTHERAN NORTH (41): Spiller 13, Cretter 5, Prude 9, Benson 4, Long 8, Newton 2.
