Jaron Joseph scored eight of his 20 points in that run as Kerry McClahan added six of 13 points. Joseph shot 8-of-12 from the floor and made two three-pointers overall. McClahan shot 60% from the floor and was one rebound short of a double-double with nine.
ETBU had six players in double figures as Justin Felicia added 12 points and nine rebounds. Erby Thompson, who hit two three-pointers had 11 points and both Junior Mitchell and C.J. Sweet brought 10 points each to the game. Thompson also posted six assists while Mitchell had five. The Ozarks Ronnie Dodd led all scorers with 30 points.
With 16 lead changes and the score being tied nine times, the score does not indicate how close the game really was. ETBU had an eight point lead at the half, 53-45, only to see the Ozarks start the second half on a 12-2 run for a two-point lead, 57-55. ETBU answered with a 7-0 run for a five-point lead on an Eric Horton shot. Sweet started the run with one of his two three-pointers in the game to take the one-point lead, 58-57. Grays added two free throws before Horton's shot for the five-point lead.
The Ozarks battled back to tie the game for the seventh time at 62 and an eighth time at 67 after ETBU had another five point lead, 67-62. ETBU was down two, 69-67, when Joseph made four of the next five ETBU buckets to start the big run to win the game. After the Ozarks took the two-point lead, 69-67, Joseph went coast-to-coast with a fast-break layup to tie the game at 69 with 10:16 left to play. Just 38 seconds later, he swooshed in a jumper for the two-lead, 71-69. Dodd made 1-of-2 at the foul line for the Ozarks to trim the lead to one, 71-70, and ETBU's Thompson also made one free throw to put the lead back at two. After an Ozarks three-pointer gave them the one-point lead, 73-72, Joseph sparked the 25-5 run making two of the next three buckets canning three-pointers. Thompson had a layup in between the three-pointers as ETBU had a seven-point lead, 80-73, with 7:22 left.
ETBU held the Ozarks to no baskets for four minutes as they went up 13 points, 86-73. Dodd broke that scoreless time at the 4:35 mark with a jumper as the last bucket made in the game. The final three-points for the Ozarks came on free throws as the Eagles only had one basket made in the final eight minutes.
Monty Grays gave ETBU a 16-point lead with1:51 left to play and added the largest lead of the game, 19 points, 97-78, with five seconds left to end the game.
The Ozarks largest lead came in the first half of four points, 24-20, but only lasted two minutes as ETBU went on an 11-5 run to take a two-point lead, 31-29. There were five ties in the first half with the last at 29. The 11-5 run turned into a 31-14 run for ETBU as they took a 13-point lead, 51-38, with 1:22 left in the half. ETBU finished the half after being down four, 24-20, outscoring the Ozarks, 33-21, for an eight-point lead at the half.
ETBU's shooting was some of the best on the year as they made 54% of their shots from the floor, 52% from the arc, and 58% from the stripe. They held the Ozarks to 36% from the floor, 32% from three-point range, and 83% from the line. Both teams had 16 turnovers and ETBU had 42 rebounds to the Ozarks' 34.
ETBU will host Texas-Dallas in their final home game of the year on Saturday, February 2nd, at 3:00 p.m. in senior day.