Eagles offense comes to life to beat Raytown in thrilling fourth quarter

2/5/2025

by Bill Althaus

The mood was upbeat in the Grain Valley High School boys locker room following a 76-68 conference victory over the visiting Raytown Blue Jays.

"I was driving home from practice the other day and thought, 'What is going to take to win a big game this season?'" asked guard Aaron Barr, who teamed with Sam Pendergrass and the always reliable Eli Herbert as the offensive standouts of the game.

"Tonight, we found out. We finally got a big boy win, and it feels so good."

But the victory didn't come without its challenges as the Eagles led 23-9 after one quarter and 38-27 at halftime.

But coach Cody Buford's Blue Jays opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run to see the momentum from the first half swing the way of the visitors.

"Now, we can talk about that run as a good thing," a smiling Eagles coach Andy Herbert said, after his team improved to 9-7 and 6-0 in conference. "We gave up the lead, which was not good, but the way our guys responded the rest of the game was great.

"We buckled down, regained the lead and won the game. That's what I've been waiting to see all season."

So has his son Eli, who is second in the metro area in scoring with a 23-plus points per game average.

There have been many games where Eli received little offensive help from his teammates. That was not the case against the Blue Jays.

Eli led the way with 26 points - including four free throws in the final 53 seconds of the fourth quarter, while Barr scored 25 points - on a free throw and six 3-pointers, and Sam Pendergrass owned the paint, with a season-high 19 points and 12 boards.

"Sam was great, and Aaron and Eli knew he was having a great game so they kept looking for him inside," said Coach Herbert, Eli's father. "Cody does a great job with his kids, and they are tenacious. We needed all three of those guys to get some points and everyone else did plenty of good things when they were in the game."

Pendergrass praised his coaches and his teammates following the victory.

"Everyone contributed, and I was glad to be one of those players," the 6-foot-6 center said. "I haven't been an important member of the offense this season, and I hope tonight changes all of that. Now, I know I can have an impact inside, and I want to keep doing that to help us win."

That was great news for the Eagles guard combo.

"We were looking for Sam inside and he really came through," Eli said, "and Aaron was hitting all his 3-point shots. We've wanted to win a really big game this season. They just won the Lee's Summit Invitational, and they beat a lot of good teams, and now we know if we settle down and do what we need to do - and don't get used out there - this could be the start of something big for our team."

Barr added, "When Sam plays like he did tonight, we're a different team. I just keep thinking how big this win was, and what a great game it was - for our team and our fans."

Eli scored seven and Barr and Pendergrass scored six points each in the first quarter. Eli added seven in the second quarter and the Eagles had the double-digit lead.

But five 3-point baskets in the third quarter played a big role in the Jays 12-2 run. Once the Eagles offense came to life, Pendergrass had scored eight points and Grain Valley led 53-50 in what turned out to be a thrilling fourth quarter.

The game was tied 58-58 at 4:51 of the final eight minutes of action Barr scored 13 points and he and Herbert each hit key free throws at the end of the game.

Ramelo Smith, who finished with 20 points, hit four 3-pointers in the second half.