A handful of years ago, Nixa coach Jay Osborne spotted a Branson school administrator standing within earshot of the Eagles' bench and delivered a message to him.

"You guys always play your best against us," Osborne said in angst as the Pirates tried to add to their string of upsets against heavily-favored Nixa teams.

The Eagles were again big favorites to beat Branson on Wednesday, but it was Nixa that played its best ball to date during an 84-41 whipping of the Pirates at the Blue & Gold Tournament.

The Blue Division first-rounder was a runaway in the first quarter, with the Eagles bolting to a 23-4 lead. They never wavered in their hustle, intensity and cohesiveness, putting the turbo clock in effect for all of the fourth quarter en route to their seventh straight win over Branson.

It was no coincidence Nixa's players spent a mere three minutes in their locker room at halftime, before returning to the floor. Osborne was pleased with them.

"We played like great teammates," Osborne said. "We always say great teammates make great teams. We took the floor with the right mentality. We had guys who played for Nixa tonight. They represented our school and community well. I'm proud of them for that.

"We had really good energy," he added. "We played with passion. We were very unselfish. We did a nice job moving the ball around. And of course we made shots. Any time you make shots it covers up all your mistakes."

The Eagles' effort and execution was in contrast to their last time out, a 13-point loss to Bentonville West, Arkansas, 10 days prior.

"It had been a long time since our last game and that wasn't a pretty one," Osborne said. "They were probably tired of practicing. It was time to move on."

Sophomores Jason Jones, who had 14 points, and Kaleb Wofford, who added a dozen, were proud how they and their teammates responded to the constructive criticism their coach had delivered to them over the past 10 days.

"Constructive criticism is good always," Wofford said. "You have to take it the right way. Coach is always going to get the best out of us. Coming out tonight, we had great energy. Everybody was ready to play. We were definitely fired up." 

"It was a wakeup call," Jones said of the Bentonville West loss. "Tonight, we got off to a good start, which was one of our goals.  I also loved our ball movement. That was one of my favorite parts of our game. We also hit our shots."

No. 3-seeded Nixa (4-5) and No. 6 Rogersville (6-3) will first face off Thursday at 2 p.m. in a second-round matchup. The Wildcats beat Mountain Grove 60-42 Wednesday.

For the full story, click here.

For game photos, click here.

Day 2 Updated Blue and Gold Bracket, Dec. 27