Luke Roemen knew he had to redeem himself.

After a missed assignment that allowed Willard's Dominic Hauck to hit a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime, and then getting an earful from his coach, Roemen stepped up in the extra session and scored six points to lift the Nixa Eagles to a 67-65 overtime conference victory over the host Tigers on Tuesday night.

"My heart sank," Roemen said. "I didn't even see the basket go in. I heard it, and I was like, 'Oh, no.' We were supposed to be switching on all screens, and I didn't see the screen, so I didn't switch. And, when I tried to go and cover it, it was too late, and he had already shot it."

Roemen could have hung his head, but instead took on the challenge in overtime by scoring six points, including two free throws that kept the Tigers at bay.

"I had to redeem myself," Roemen said. "I felt like I had something to prove after letting my team down on that (Hauck) shot, so I just tried to do everything I could to make sure that we could win."

Which he did, almost right away, in overtime. Carson Young connected with Roemen on a high-low play – not just once, but twice – to give Nixa a 62-59 lead. His two free throws, which fouled out Willard's high-scoring junior Daniel Abreu with 1:12 to go, put the Eagles up by four (64-60).

Ace Akers scored to give Nixa a 66-60 lead, but Willard's Riley Young banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to pull the Tigers within three (66-63), and coach Jeremy Dresslaer called time out with 9.5 seconds to play.

Willard fouled, but Nixa missed its free throws and called time with 8.5 remaining. Then, Nixa fouled sending Riley Young to the line. He sank both of his free throws to make it a one-point game (66-65). A Willard foul put Isaiah Engelman on the line, where he hit 1 of 2 (67-65). The Tigers got a shot off at the buzzer, but it fell short as Nixa held on for the win.

Nixa's game plan going in Tuesday night, was to limit what Abreu could do. The Willard standout was coming off games of 34, 38, 24, 29 and 21 points, which included breaking the tournament scoring record during the 73rd Blue & Gold Tournament, with 125 points, just over a week ago.

For the full game recap and game highlights, click here.

For photos of the game, click here.

NIXA 67, WILLARD 65 (OT)
NIXA 15-7-19-15-11—67
WILLARD 12-9-15-20-9—65

NIXA (7-7) – Evann Long 8, Ace Akers 13, Carson Young 2, Kaleb Wofford 14, Luke Roemen 21, Jason Jones 4, Brandon Gordon 4, Isaiah Engleman 1.
WILLARD (7-5) – Maurice Grayer 23, Riley Young 7, Dominic Hauck 10, Nathan Bushnell 3, Daniel Abreu 14, Caden Mowell 3, Cole Oedewaldt 5.
Nixa B 51, Willard B 27