Nixa was on such a roll Tuesday that even when something went wrong, something else went right.

During a frenzied fourth quarter, Colin Ruffin muffed an alley-oop pass off the backboard designed to set up teammate Kael Combs for a dunk. No matter, the Eagles tracked down the loose ball and converted, anyway.

In fact, Nixa converted on an amazing 15 straight possessions to clinch its 72-49 rout of Willard. The Eagles hit a field goal or two free throws each time downcourt on their final four possessions of the third quarter and their first 11 possessions of the fourth quarter while totaling 34 points.

This had been a six-point game in the third quarter.

The streak continued even when coach Jay Osborne brought in his backups, but finally ended with :46 remaining.

The only regret for the Eagles during their incredible stretch was that Combs didn't get a second dunk on the night. Ruffin said the building excitement in front of a delighted home crowd got the best of him for what he hoped would be a crescendo.

"After Kael had that dunk, that set us off. We went off after that," Ruffin said. "I had so much adrenaline going, I was like, 'Oh no,' I knew my pass was long as soon as it left my hands. We're going to have to practice that. Kael and I have practiced that before. I just don't know what was going through my head then. But we're going to get it."

The combination of Ruffin and Combs was otherwise right-on. They were a big part of Nixa's 34-point explosion. Combs, a freshman, recorded a breakaway dunk while scoring 16 points in only 16 minutes of playing time. Ruffin, a sophomore added 11.

"The younger players were pretty efficient," said guard Josh Mason, who had a game-high 21 points. "I thought they killed it during that seven-minute stretch to start the fourth quarter.

"Everyone was hitting shots," he added. "We got wide-open looks and were knocking them down."

Indeed, it didn't matter who took the shot, it was nothing but net. Role players Aaron Engelman and TJ Sorgenfrei got in on the fun by hitting 3-pointers.

It was a repeat rout for NIxa (10-3 overall and 1-0 in the COC), which whipped Willard 67-39 at the Blue & Gold Tournament. 

Mason scored 21 points in both wins over Willard. He was coming off a season-low five-point outing in the Eagles' 41-37 win at Rogersville last Friday.

"That defense Rogersville runs, nobody else runs that 1-2-2 matchup (zone)," Mason said. "I don't get as many looks against those zones as I'd like to. They were denying the ball with their length. But we won the game, so I was happy for the team. 

"This game, I was looking for my shot. It usually falls at home," he added. "Our energy was better tonight. It's always good for home games. We always play well here."

The Eagles have won three in a row and eight of their last nine. 

"We did some nice things. We got better tonight," Osborne said. "I like what I see. We're becoming better balanced. We've got a lot of kids who can contribute. Kaleb (Wofford) hit our first bucket of the game and didn't score the rest of the night, but still played well. They were concentrating on not letting him catch the ball. But we had other kids who picked up the scoring slack. That's what good teams do."

Tipping off COC play so impressively certainly seemed to have established the Eagles as 100-percent legit contenders for the COC crown. 

"We're hoping to be at the top," Mason said. 

"We can win the conference," Osborne said. "We have a shot to win the conference, we have a shot to win our tournament and I think we'll have a good shot at winning District, too.

"We have to practice better," he added. "We're not practicing very well. We'll get that corrected. We start getting better in practice, we'll see more of this kind of effort."

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