COLUMBIA, MO – It was a celebration of the multi-sport athlete when Nixa faced Lafayette in the Class 6 MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown third-place game Thursday at Mizzou Arena.
Both teams sported several players who helped their schools earn baseball and football state semifinal berths in recent seasons.
“The multi-sport athlete aspect has been huge,” said Lafayette coach Don Kreienkamp, who also coaches baseball. “I think we’re starting to figure out what it means to be a coaching community in terms of supporting each other’s programs and not getting so focused on our own.”
For Nixa, seven players on the basketball team played for a football state championship in Columbia four months earlier.
“Making the playoff runs we did in both sports, not a lot of teams in Nixa history have been able to do that,” senior Lane Meltabarger said.
Senior Keivon Flint added, “Coming back (to the University of Missouri) twice is awesome.”
Meltabarger and Flint were part of a balanced attack that saw every Nixa player score as the Eagles defeated Lafayette 56-33 to earn third place in Class 6 Thursday at Mizzou Arena.
Nixa (28-3), which played in its 11th final four in program history, reached the state semifinals for the second time since 2022.
Lafayette (16-16) was making its first trip to the state semifinals since 2004 after a magical run through the playoffs. The Lancers were 9-12 after a four-game losing streak and dropped two in a row heading into the postseason before putting the pieces together at the perfect time.
“I think it started on defense,” senior Josh Pitney said. “We played really hard on defense, and the offense started moving the ball better and getting better shots. We started playing really well as a team.”
A double overtime victory over SLUH in the state quarterfinal put the Lancers in the Show-Me Showdown for the first time in 21 years, an event that took place concurrently with the school’s spring break.
Multiple players from the Lafayette team kept their spring break plans and did not travel with the team to Columbia. It left a noticeable void, both on the court and on the sidelines.
“You will always have choices as a person about what to do. Do I stay at my current job or go to a different job? Do I stay with my major or go to another major?” Kreienkamp said. “Our job as coaches is to teach everybody to make those tough decisions and have a good decision paradigm when you make those choices.”
He added, “In terms of solving it, you can’t solve everything, you can’t make everybody happy. I’m just happy to be here with these guys. It’s been a rush with these 10.”
In the state semifinal a day earlier, the Lancers played a brilliant first quarter against Chaminade, going 7-of-12 from the field and trailing 20-18 before the Red Devils began to pull away in the second quarter.
In the third-place game against Nixa, the Lancers could not find that same offensive rhythm, shooting only 24 percent from the field and 2-for-19 from three-point range.
Conversely, Nixa shot 50 percent in the first half to build a double-digit lead before going 10-for-15 from the field in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. The Eagles were led by football quarterback Adam McKnight, who scored 15 points Thursday, then hit a walkoff homerun for the Nixa baseball team on Saturday.
“Third-place games are difficult to play,” Nixa coach Brock Blansit said. “I told our guys, ‘Only two teams in Class 6 will end their season with a win, so while we’re here, we might as well play our tails off and win.’ I thought they handled business today and played well.”
For the Lancers, the results of the Show-Me Showdown did not damper the pride of playing on the final day of the Class 6 boys basketball season.
“For me, it’s a dream come true, playing at state at Mizzou,” Jury said. “Freshman, sophomore, junior years, we didn’t make it anywhere close. I didn’t think we’d ever make it here. It’s something I always wanted to do.”
During their six playoff games, the Lancers’ had five different leading scorers.
“Earlier in the season, we were heavily anchored with one leading scorer, but different people started popping off as the leading scorer each game. They were selfless, shared the basketball and everyone was happy for whoever’s night it was,” Kreienkamp said.
Pitney added, “It’s a team that played together, was connected and went further than anyone would have thought, just because of how much we believed in each other. We made a really special run.”
For a Photo Gallery of the 2025 Boys Basketball Show-Me Showdown click this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Boys-Basketball-Photos/Boys-Basketball-2024-25