Bulldogs 3-Peat as Champions of Blair Oaks Tourney with 66-59 Win Over Blair Oaks
- RoMoAthletics
- Jan 24
- 7 min read
January 24nd, 2026
It was a match-up that the Bulldogs hoped would happen back around 8:45pm on Dec. 19th when the Bulldogs lost at Blair Oaks, 56 to 67. Well, with the Bulldogs win over St. James and Blair Oaks win over Salem in the semifinal round of the St. James Tournament, the rematch would happen.
The Rematch x 2
The game was more than to avenge the first loss of the season at the hands of then #4 in Class 4 ranked Blair Oaks Falcons. That game definitely left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Bulldogs after a rough shooting night that was marred with turnovers that had the Bulldogs leaving the gymnasium full of regret.
It also represented a chance for the Bulldogs to achieve a 3-Peat at the 81st Annual St. James Tournament and a rematch of last season’s championship game against Blair Oaks that ended with the Bulldogs on top 67-64 as the Bulldogs burned the clock in a tied ball game to hold for the last shot, 6’4” Sr guard Ethan Brown attacked the basket in the final second and as the Falcons defense slid in to stop the drive, Brown found 6’2” Sr guard Jenson Thomas open for an elbow three that went through the net as time expired!
Match-Up
With a weather forecast of heavy snow fall coming in on Saturday for the finals of the St. James Tournament, organizers engaged the teams and the Boys Tournament final day was moved up to Friday and games moved from St. James High School to St. James Middle School due to the Girls Tournament already having their semifinal games scheduled for Friday.
A middle school? But the St. James Middle is not a typical middle school. It is a newer facility that is considerably larger than the high school gym in regards to seating as well as court size.
The Championship Game between the #1 Seed the Blair Oaks Falcons ranked #5 in Class 4 and the #2 Seed as a result of the previous loss, the Rolla Bulldogs ranked #5 in Class 6 was drawing a lot of attention. Sports fans from the central Missouri area and some fans driving 2 hours to watch this high powered match-up.
Both teams start 5 seniors with a senior dominant roster. Both teams have size, speed, and athleticism. Both teams with a history of winning and both with something to prove. Blair Oaks to prove that the win in December wasn’t a fluke and Rolla that they are the premier team in this region.
The fans were not disappointed.
Bulldog Head Coach, Mark Miller, has a ton of respect for the Blair Oaks program. “Blair Oaks has a very good basketball team this year and they proved that to us the first time we played back in mid December when they beat us by 11 at their place. It was a different story this time.”
A Tale of Two Games
In the Bulldogs loss at Blair Oaks, they shot under 35% from the field for the game while Blair Oaks shot 45%. Neither team shot well from behind the arc with Rolla shooting 23% and Blair Oaks 25%. The telling stats focused around the pace of play.
In the Blair Oaks victory, they outscored the typically fast paced Bulldogs 28 to 11 in transition points that was made possible by the Bulldogs committing 14 turnovers in the game leading to 16 points for the Falcons. Rolla’s only lead of the game came on a single made free throw to start the game.
The rematch was a reversal of the first game for the Bulldogs as they struck first and never relinquished the lead. The Bulldogs came out firing, attacking the basket going 8 for 12 from 2 and 6 for 12 from the 3 point land in the half.
The Falcons were attacking the basket as well with 6’2” Sr guard Brady Dapkus having early success in the quarter and 6’5” Sr forward Brenden Rackers and 5’10” Sr guard Sam Closser both knocked down a 3 pointer in the opening quarter to keep the game close, 17-13. The challenge for the Falcons came when 6’4” Sr guard Hudson Moyer, who once again had the task of trying to slow down Brown, picked up his 2nd foul and went to the bench and would sit for the rest of the house. Brown led the Bulldogs with 8 points in the quarter.
The second quarter started out the same as the Bulldogs continued to hit from long range with 6’4” Sr guard Cooper Gideon hitting 2 3’s in the quarter and connecting on 3 of 5 for the game. It was also time for 6’8” Sr forward Paxton Ledbetter to go to work, but not from the inside as he once again put his talents on display knocking down 3 balls.
The Bulldogs lead jumped up to 10 points in the final seconds but Dapkus raced the court split defender and was able to convert the contested layup at the buzzer to cut the halftime lead to 8, with Rolla on top 35 to 27.
A 3rd Quarter Lull
The hot shooting Bulldogs cooled down dramatically in the 3rd period. The first couple of minutes the two teams exchanged buckets with the lead bouncing between 8 and 10 for Rolla. Then the Falcons began their run to cut the lead to 2 midway through the quarter.
The Bulldogs were 2 for 12 from the field and 0 for 3 from deep. To compound the scoring woes, the Bulldogs committed 4 turnovers but the saving grace for the Bulldogs is they came away with 7 offensive rebounds for the quarter to minimize the possessions for Blair Oaks who went 4 for 7 from the field to cut the lead to 5, 44-39.
Closing Out the Game
Entering the 4th quarter it was time for the Bulldogs defense to step up and that it did. The Bulldogs were able to get win the points in transition battle as well as the points of turnovers in the final period that helped the Bulldog lead expand to 11 points.
While the Falcons were letting it fly from deep going 4 for 12 in the quarter, the Bulldogs chose to attack the basket scoring on 8 of 9 field goal attempts with Thomas finishing with 6 points in the quarter and Brown with 8. Doing damage for the Falcons was 6’7” Sr forward Bennett Wilde who connected on 2 3’s for 6 points and Rackers with 5.
Coach Miller was pleased with the response. “Our changing defenses, strong rebounding and solid perimeter shooting was big for us and the way we were able to answer every time they made a run at us was impressive. It’s great to see the maturity of this team and we’re gonna need a lot more of it down the stretch as we play some real power houses.”
The Wrap Up
“What a fun night. The guys played with intensity and composure to grab their third tournament championship of the season.”
While the Bulldogs shot efficiently from 3 shooting 43.8 % while the Falcons again struggled from deep hitting only 29.6% of their 27 attempts, the surprise was in the struggles from the free throw line as the Bulldogs only shot 56% but luckily the Falcons only shot 55% and once again the Bulldogs were able to get to the line more than their opponent.
Coach Miller once again raved about the contribution from his team. “Back-to-back games for the Bulldogs of having 4 players in double digits. The balance of our scoring puts a lotta pressure on the other team’s defense.” Bulldogs were led in scoring by Brown with 25, followed by Gideon with 13, Thomas with 12 and Ledbetter with 10.
It was the fifth championship game in a row that they played in at the St. James tournament and the 3rd Championship that they have won in a row.
Based upon how that game played, I believe both teams had their answers. It wasn’t a fluke that Blair Oaks beat Rolla and Rolla reconfirmed that they are the top team in the region. It was a game worth watching.
81st Annual St. James All-Tournament Team
Sr. Ethan Brown - Rolla - MVP (3x MVP)
Sr. Jenson Thomas - Rolla
Sr. Hudson Moyer - Blair Oaks
Sr. Bennett Wilde - Blair Oaks
Sr. Tate Gruver - St. James
Sr. Aiden Boone - St. James
Sr. Braiden Gapsch - Salem
Next Up
On the road to DeSmet (14-2) on Tuesday January 27th and then at home for the 2nd to last home game against Battle (12-7)
DeSmet is currently ranked #2 in Class 6
Both their losses are to Vianney
Last year Bulldogs lost to DeSmet in Rolla 60-80 as they shot lights out from deep
Both teams average 70ppg
STATS Rolla 66, Blair Oaks 59
The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):
Rolla (16-2): Thomas 4-4-12, Gideon 5-0-13, Ledbetter 4-2-10, Brown 10-3-25, Smith 1-0-2, Robinson 1-2-4
Blair Oaks (12-2): Hoffman 1-1-3, Wilde 6-3-18, Closser 2-0-6, Jackson 1-0-2, Moyer 2-0-5, Rockets 4-1-11, Dapkus 7-0-14
The score by periods:
TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F
Rolla 17 18 9 22 66
Blair Oaks 13 14 12 20 59
Blair Oaks Tournament Results
Final Tourney Finals
Championship - Rolla defeats Blair Oaks
3rd Place - St. James over Salem
Consolation - Waynesville over Steelville
First Round Tourney Results - Monday the 19th
#1 Blair Oaks - Bye
Semifinal Results - Thursday the 22nd
Steelville defeats Cuba, 45-43
Blair Oaks over Salem, 66 -31
Rolla handles Blair Oaks, 64-51
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