Sitting at the podium at the interview room after his Wellsville-Middletown boys basketball team lost to the St. Elizabeth Hornets 50-45 in overtime in the third-place game of the Class 1 Show-Me Showdown on March 12 at JQA Arena in Springfield, coach Steve Lasman had a question.

“I like to know in history how many teams lost two overtime games in the state finals?” Lasman said.

In a span of 16 hours, the Tigers lost both of their Final Four games in overtime. They fell to Stanberry 45-40 in overtime in the semifinals on March 11 at the Hammons Student Center. In the third-place game, W-M blew a five point, fourth-quarter lead to lose to St. Elizabeth.

Despite the two overtime losses, the Tigers were happy that they left Missouri State University with a fourth-place trophy. It’s the fifth time in program history W-M finished in the top four. It placed fourth in 1980 and second in 1981, 1986 and 1987.

“It’s pretty amazing,” W-M freshman Hunter Bickell said. “We have a pretty good group of seniors and an amazing group of boys.”

Bickell joined seniors Isaac Seabaugh and Keaton Mayes, junior Jacob Mandrell and freshman Gage Marshall as the only W-M athletes in the 2021-22 school year to compete on two top-four state placing teams. They helped the cross country team come in third at the Class 1 state meet in November.

The Tigers, who competed in the Show-Me Showdown for the first time since 1987, finished their season at 20-8. They had an eight-game winning streak before losing back-to-back games at the Final Four.

Lasman said he was pleased that his team had victories over big schools such as Van-Far, Bowling Green and New Haven during the year.

“We’ve beaten a lot of good Class 3 and 4 teams this year, so our kids have nothing to apologize about,” Lasman said.

Mayes was the Tigers’ only player in double figures with 16 points. He also had nine rebounds.

Junior Logan Pursifull came close to finishing with a double-double, scoring eight points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He scored a basket with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter to give W-M a 42-37 lead before St. Elizabeth rallied to take a 39-37 lead in the closing seconds.

Freshman Carson Huff finished with eight points, including a layup with three seconds left in regulation that tied the game at 39-39 and sent it to overtime.

“That freshman took the game in his own hands,” Lasman said. “He’s done that all year. He’s an excellent driver. We wanted Seabaugh to get the ball because he’s our best shooter. But they did a good job denying him. Huff saw the opening and took it.”

The Tigers had trouble stopping St. Elizabeth senior Brock Lucas for most of the game. He finished with 23 points, including nine in overtime, and 11 rebounds. With the game tied at 41-41 in the extra period, Lucas hit a pair of free throws with 2:27 left, then scored a bucket 30 seconds later to give the Hornets a 45-41 lead they never relinquished.

“He is a heck of a player,” Lasman said. “We played a triangle-and-two defense on him. We put three different individuals on him and he beat us. He won the game. He’s a good player. We put our best guy on him. Then, he got into foul trouble. Then, we put our next best guy and he got into foul trouble.”

Lucas helped the Hornets finish third for the second year in a row and for the fourth time in program history. St. Elizabeth also placed second in 2004 and 2020.

“I told our kids that St. Elizabeth has a great tradition,” Lasman said. “They have been good forever and forever and they always will be good. I told our kids that they were going to give us their best effort.”

St. Elizabeth, which finished its season at 19-11, competed in the Final Four for the fourth year in a row. The Hornets advanced to Springfield by beating Thomas Jefferson Independent in the 54-35 in the state quarterfinals on March 5.

“Before the season started, all these guys said, ‘We can go back. We can make it four straight years and continue our success here,’” St. Elizabeth coach Caleb Heckemeyer said. “These guys knew it. They knew we could get back. We may not have the same offensive weapons we had in the past. But defensively, I felt like we were a strong team and were able to get back to the Final Four. That’s what got us to the Final Four. Defense is what got us the win in the third-place game.”