If Nixa coach Jay Osborne was to be truthful and tell it like it is, there was no getting around him characterizing the Eagles play Friday as well below their program's standards.

Nixa's seven-year stranglehold on the the Nixa Invitational Tournament championship trophy is over. The Eagles's 22-game winning streak in the tourney ended with a thud, as the hosts were whipped by Willard 68-45 in a sour semifinal. 

The Tigers' lead reached 15 points, 22-7, as early as the first quarter.  

"We stared the game with three missed shots and three turnovers on our first six possessions," Osborne said. "That's not ready to play. That's not how you compete at this level. They were ready to play and we weren't."

If the Eagles thought things started badly, the game actually only got worse. Willard outscored Nixa in each quarter and the Tigers' lead ballooned to 20-plus points.

Only two weeks ago, Nixa beat Willard on its home court 67-65 in overtime.

Osborne was particularly disappointed that his team didn't value possessions better. 

"I was watching us make turnovers left and right like it didn't matter," he said. "We were dribbling off our foot or throwing one-handed passes across the court. We had four or five cross-court passes they picked off and went down to shoot layups. We were soft with the ball, not mentally tough and not physically tough. 

"It was ridiculous," he added. "It looked like a seventh-grade game for a while. I'm not trying to be mean about it. It was just terrible. It was a bad night for our program. We didn't get better tonight. Win or lose, we've got to get better every game."

Luke Roemen led Nixa with 19 points. Osborne felt his senior center could have had a bigger night.

"We had trouble throwing a post-entry pass to Luke," Osborne said. "Luke's got a guy sitting on his back. He's open. It takes us three seconds staring at him to throw him the ball. It's a simple game. He's either open or he's not. He's open, throw it to him. If he's not, don't throw it to him." 

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WILLARD (68) — Odewaldt 2 0-0 5, Grayer 9 1-2 23, Young 2 1-2 6, Hauck 1 0-0 2, Bushnell 2 2-2 6, Abreu 9 7-7 26. Totals 25 11-13 68.

NIXA (45) – Long 2 0-0 5, Akers 2 0-0 6, Wofford 3 1-1 8, Jones 1 0-0 2, Gordon 2 0-0 5, Roemen 8 3-4 19. Totals 18 4-5 45. 

Willard  22  18  16 12 - 68
Nixa      13  13  13  6  - 45

3-point goals — Grayer 4, Akers 2, Wofford, Gordon, Long, Abreu, Young, Odewaldt.