BLAND — For Bland’s Bears and Owensville’s Dutchmen Monday night in Western Gasconade County, Highway 28 bragging rights in middle school boy’s basketball were on the line.

Monday also marked the coaching debut for Dutchmen seventh-grade basketball coach Taylor Payne and Dutchmen eighth-grade basketball coach Shane Hunt.

Looking for a win to open the season, Payne’s seventh-grade Dutchmen made the short trek west on Highway 28 to face the host Bland Bears.

Trailing 15-9 at halftime, a Noah Caldwell basket to open the second half pulled OMS to with four of Bland at 15-11.

Seeing the Bears close the third quarter on a 7-2 run, Owensville could not get any closer before dropping their season opener on the road in Bland, 29-21.

Quickly falling behind 4-0, Payne’s Dutchmen scored five of the next six points.

A Jansen Loeb free throw got OMS on the board before a pair of Caldwell buckets tied the game at 5-5 with 46.4 left in the opening quarter.

Bland’s Lukas Smith broke the tie with :07 ticks left leaving Owensville trailing 7-5 after six minutes of basketball.

Scoring five of their seven first-quarter points, Smith was not done causing problems for Owensville on defense.

Accounting for the first six points of the second quarter for the Bears, Smith single-handedly had the Dutchmen trailing 13-5 with 4:41 until halftime.

Owensville baskets by Eli Graham and Loeb in a span of 48 seconds cut Bland’s lead to 13-9 with 3:16 for the first half.

Glayden Woodruff scored the half’s final points at the 2:10 mark leaving the Dutchmen trailing the Bears 15-9 entering the halftime intermission.

Caldwell paced Owensville in the first half with four points and three steals. Loeb also chipped in three points and four rebounds.

Nearly doubled up in the third quarter, Payne’s Dutchmen found themselves now trailing 22-13 going into the fourth quarter in bear country.

Seeing Bland open the scoring in the fourth quarter, OMS found themselves facing a double digit deficit down 24-13 with 5:02 remaining in the game.

Scoring the next five points, Owensville was able to cut Bland’s lead back down to six points at 24-18 with 3:33 left in regulation.

An Eli Graham free throw at the 4:51 mark of the quarter sparked the early fourth-quarter run for the Dutchmen.

A Nick Abel basket and a Caldwell bucket capped the 5-0 run putting OMS back within striking distance of the Bears.

Bland answered with a Jon Valley free throw and four more points from Smith denying Payne her first victory as the Dutchmen seventh-grade basketball coach.

Caldwell led Owensville with a team-high nine points and four steals. Eli Graham followed with five points and five rebounds.

Loeb was next in scoring with three points to go along with a team-high six rebounds.

Ethan Ditton and Abel rounded out the Dutchmen scoring with two points each.

Smith led Bland and all scorers with a game-high 20 points. He also had 12 rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.

Woodruff added six points followed by two markers from Thomas Harrott and one from Valley.

Although he did not score, Tyler Litton added three steals, three rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.

OMS 8th Grade at Bland

Seeing Bland’s seventh-grade Bears deny Payne her first victory, Owensville’s eighth-grade Dutchmen looked to give Coach Hunt his first victory along with denying the Bears a sweep of Monday’s Highway 28 doubleheader.

Briefly falling behind 2-0 in the opening moments of the game, Owensville ended the first quarter on a 17-6 run before going on to a 48-38 victory in the 8th grade game over the host Bland Bears.

Trailing for all of 35 seconds, two Blake Elliott baskets put the Dutchmen in front for good 4-2 at the 5:00 mark of the first quarter.

Layne Evans and Tanner Meyer added buckets to cap Owensville’s 8-0 run giving them at 8-2 lead with 3:32 for the first quarter.

After a Carter Kinkead basket for Bland cut OMS’ lead to 8-4, Hunt’s Dutchmen went on another 8-0 run.

This one was started on Elliott’s third bucket of the quarter at the 3:00 mark. Evans and Meyer scored again before Elliott capped the latest run at the 1:51 mark for a 16-4 Dutchmen lead.

A basket from Charles Hazelwood and a Meyer free throw in the final :52 seconds gave Owensville a 19-8 lead after one quarter.

Elliott led the first-quarter barrage of offense for the Dutchmen with eight points to go along with five points and three steals from Meyer.

In spite of only nine second quarter points, Hunt’s Owensville squad went into halftime with a 28-16 lead over Bland’s Bears.

Elliott paced the Dutchmen in the first half with 11 points and six rebounds. Hazelwood also added six first-half points.

Baylar Smith and Kinkead led the Bears in first-half scoring with five points each. Smith also added six first-half steals.

Holding the Bears to a Kinkead bucket at the 5:05 mark of the third quarter, Owensville put seven on the board behind five more from Elliott pushing their lead to 17 at 35-18 going into the fourth quarter.

Keeping their lead in double digits the rest of the game, Owensville’s eighth-grade Dutchmen were able to give Coach Hunt his first win in the season opener.

Elliott led all scorers with a game-high 18 points. He completed a double double pulling down 11 rebounds in addition to two assists and a blocked shot.

Meyer just missed double digits in scoring with nine points. Flirting with a triple double, Meyer also had seven steals, six assists and five rebounds.

Evans followed with seven points while Landon Ely and Hazelwood kicked in six points each.

Austin Mades rounded out Owensville’s scoring with two points.

Kinkead just missed a double double for Bland with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Brayden Cadwallader also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points while also narrowly missing a double double pulling down eight rebounds.

Butler added six points to go along with five markers each from Logan Stratman and Smith.

In addition to his five points, Smith added eight steals, two rebounds and a blocked shot.

Now with a 10-day layoff between games, Owensville will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 5 against another Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) opponent)

Heading south on Highway 19, the OMS Dutchmen will take on Steelville’s Cardinals with a 5:30 start time for seventh-grade action in Crawford County.

After playing their first two games on the road, Owensville will open their home schedule on Monday, Dec. 9 hosting Washington at Owensville Elementary School.