The Ozark Tigers pushed their score all the way to 61 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 73-61 hit to the loss column at the hands of Webb City. While losing is never fun, Ozark can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 223rd, while the Cardinals are ranked 77th).
It was another big night for Barron Duda, who scored 25 points along with three steals for Webb City. Duda has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last 18 times he's played. Another player making a difference was Holton Keith, who scored 16 points along with six assists.
Ozark dropped their record down to 1-6 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.0 points per game. As for Webb City, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season.
Ozark will be playing in front of their home fans against the Pirates at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Webb City, they will head out on the road to square off against the Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Willard has insisted on making their lastthree contests complete nail-biters, turning in a record of 2-1 during that stretch of close contests.
