Woodland boys outlast Scott City, win first basketball district

GREENVILLE, Mo. — Survive and advance.

That’s the advice for basketball teams seeking success any time of the year. When the postseason starts, that becomes even more paramount.

Junior Calvin Layton’s go-ahead layup with less than 10 seconds gave top-seeded Woodland a one-point advantage over No. 2 Scott City. Senior Kobe Watson put up a potential buzzer-beating three-pointer that could either continue the Rams' season or be the last shot of his high school career.

The ball clanked off the iron of the rim, and the celebration instantly began.

The Cardinals held on for a thrilling 50-49 victory on Friday, Feb. 28, at Greenville High School in the Missouri State High School Athletic Association’s Class 3, District 2 final. It’s the first district championship for the boys’ varsity team in Woodland’s history.

“I felt like we controlled the tempo of the game for the majority of the game, Scott City, they just didn’t quit,” said Woodland coach Shawn Kinder. “We knew their big kids would make plays and they’ve been battle-tested a few times, but so have we. We toughened up the schedule this year. We’ve been in games where we’ve had to play from behind and make big plays. Calvin saw an advantage when Scott City jumped in the passing lane to try and get a steal and he got downhill on him. He executed, took it hard to the hole, and finished.”

Woodland led 10-7 after the first quarter and 29-22 at halftime. The Cardinals’ lead was 41-33 entering the fourth quarter.

Junior Korbin Kinder collected a game-high 16 points. He scored 14 in the first half, including three of the Cardinals’ eight 3-pointers. Jackson Shock also made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points. Kamren McCormick made four field goals and contributed 10 points. Other Woodland scorers included Layton (seven points) and Lane Lee (six points).

Kobe Watson led Scott City with 15 points. Jayden Rulo finished with 13 points for the Rams, all in the second half. He had three of his team’s five 3-pointers.

Woodland used a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter to take a 28-15 edge, only to see the Rams battle back with a 7-1 run in the final 2:40 in the half to cut the deficit to a more manageable 29-22.

Early in the third quarter, it appeared Scott City found its groove, getting within four points on a couple of occasions. A 3-pointer by Rulo cut the Cardinals’ lead to 29-25 and later Rulo’s steal and layup with five minutes left in the third trimmed Woodland’s lead to 31-27. The Cardinals hit three shots to go on a quick 7-0 run, taking a 38-27 lead, only to see the Rams respond with a 6-0 run of their own to get within 38-33.

A field goal and free throw from McCormick built the Woodland lead back to eight, at 41-33, but Scott City had an answer. It scored the first seven points in the final quarter and had a chance to take the lead with 5:47 remaining but Watson misfired on a pair of free throws. Lee’s basket made it 43-40 and then Woodland converted a turnover into points, with a layup by Shock. He later added a 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a 48-42 advantage with 2:20 remaining.

Rulo was fouled on a 3-pointer, and hit the first two, then added a 3-pointer with 1:30 left, cutting the lead to 48-47. It remained that way until Watson hit two foul shots with 14 seconds left, giving the Rams a 49-48 lead.

Even with Layton’s late heroics, the Cardinals had to outlast a late shot attempt from the Rams’ Kobe Watson.

“He’s tough, he’s a competitor,” Kinder said. “We knew we had to try and get it out of his hands if we could. He pulled up and shot one contested pretty deep and that helped us.”

“That kid works as hard as anybody I’ve got in the program, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to take that last shot for us,” Kinder said.

“I think this group of parents I have here (with these boys) has kind of been expecting this, really, we’ve had this group since they were in second grade. As they got older, middle school, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade, we knew they were something special. They were just gym rats. They didn’t want to leave the gym. They played, played, played and it didn’t matter who they just wanted to play.”

Winning a district was one of the team goals Kinder and his staff had for 2024-25.

“I think this has been on their minds for a long, long time,” Kinder said.

“This is a big deal for the community as a whole, seeing that success is going to change us tremendously in the future,” Layton said.

“We knew we needed a bucket, and in the frontcourt, they were denying (the ball to) our point guard so I knew somebody had to go over and get the ball…I took the shot, I knew the guys trusted me to shoot that, and trusted those guys to shoot that shot, too, tonight it was my turn.”

“That was the best part, that was when the adrenaline started kicking in, that’s when I started to realize…we just won the district.”

“We wanted this one really bad, and our community wanted it," Korbin Kinder said. "It was just another ballgame, it wasn’t anything that we weren’t used to. I think we came to play, and pulled it out in the end.”

“They’re a good ball team, we knew they could make a big run, and they did, right there in the third quarter into the fourth, they cut that lead down to nothing," Woodland's Lane Lee said. "They went up one. With fourteen seconds left on the clock, I trusted any of our guys to make that play, and Calvin stepped up and made a great play. As soon as I see that ball going in, I know we’re up one but we’ve got to get back and get a stop. We forced a tough shot and a 3-pointer, and the game’s over. We’re really excited about it.”

Toughness and rebounding were key down the stretch, according to Lane, especially with the Cardinals being outsized in the front-court.

“That’s challenging, but the coaches have prepared us for that all year,” Lee said. “We really strive for that. We are small. Our biggest guy is maybe 6-1, 6-2, that was big. I think we did a decent job at it tonight.