After rallying all night to keep up with and finally catch Kickapoo, Nixa couldn't put the Chiefs away Tuesday.

Kickapoo, more specifically Anton Brookshire, scored the final six points of the night to hand the Eagles a 64-62 overtime defeat. 

"We had a four-point lead in overtime," Eagles coach Jay Osborne said, noting his team's 62-58 advantage with 1:49 remaining in the extra period.

From there, Kickapoo ran a clear-out for Brookshire to set him up for a layup, Brookshire followed up by going 1-on-5 and scoring on a spinning layup and finally, he picked up a steal and drove downcourt for a winning layup with :03 left.

It was an all-too-common script for Nixa. The Eagles have lost 10 straight against the Chiefs. Two years ago, Brookshire hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Eagles 49-46. In that game, Nixa held a five-point lead with 2:15 to play, only to see Kickapoo score the final eight points.

Nixa's final two possessions in overtime Tuesday saw Jason Jones miss a turnaround jumper in the paint with 1:05 left and Kael Combs attempt to drive to the bucket, before having the ball stolen by Brookshire.

"We had some decisions that were made in the final two minutes that we can improve on," Osborne said. "We've got to do better at shot-selection and decision-making. I don't know how you coach decision-making. A lot of that is on me. I'll take responsibility for a lot of it. We've got to be more disciplined at times.

"We've got to finish," he added. "We didn't finish the first quarter well, we didn't finish the first half well and we didn't finish the end of the game well. We put ourselves in position to win, we just didn't get it done. We'll get better at finishing games."

Kickapoo (9-2) never trailed in regulation, breaking out to a 20-7 lead.

Combs led the Eagles' comeback. He scored a season-high 19 points. A minute into overtime, Combs swished a 3-pointer to put Nixa ahead, 59-56, for the first time the entire game.

"He was aggressive and hard to guard," Osborne said. "He's a creator, we need a creator out there."

"The effort was awesome. The kids played hard," he added. "I thought we rebounded well in the second half. We've got guys who battled. We proved a lot of things. We played well, but didn't play as well as we can."

Osborne bemoaned Nixa's 9-of-18 free-throw shooting.

"Free throws can win and lose games," he said.

Collin Ruffin added 13 points and Jaret Nelson 12 for the Eagles.

Nelson made 1-of-2 free throws with :16 left in regulation to tie things up at 56.

Isaac Haney missed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, but netted 19 points. Brookshire was held to 10 points, before picking his spots to shine in the clutch. 

Nixa (11-2) is back at it Wednesday at home versus Parkview (5-5). It's a contest that was originally due to be played in early December, but was re-scheduled due to COVID-19.

The Eagles edged the Vikings 48-46 in the semifinal round of the Blue & Gold Tournament.

"I'd prefer (to play) Thursday," Osborne said. "That's the beauty of basketball. You can't sit around and pout for too long. We've got to strap it back on because we've got a good team coming in."

Kickapoo 64, Nixa 62 O.T.

KICKAPOO (64) — Brookshire 7 2-4 16, Liggins 3 4-5 12, Haney 6 4-4 19, Kellogg 1 0-0 2, Doenig 1 0-1 2. Totals 22 15-20 64. 

NIXA (62) — Ruffin 4 3-4 13, Turner 1 1-2 3, Combs 7 2-4 19, Sorgenfrei 2 0-0 5, Wofford 2 0-0 5, Nelson 5 2-7 12, Jones 2 1-1 5. Totals 23 9-18 62.

Kickapoo  20 15  9  12 8 - 64

Nixa          15 11 16 14 6 - 62

3-point goals - Combs 3, Haney 3, Liggins 2, Ruffin 2, Sorgenfrei, Wofford.

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