Terence Culler drives through two defenders toward the basket.

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. -- As Warrensburg coach Chris Nimmo has pointed out, it helps that his Tigers “like each other.” Few teams dance far into postseason basketball without a strong sense of brotherhood.

But for Tigers star Terence Culler, there is a more literal explanation for the familial ties he feels while on the floor. Culler often shares the backcourt with his younger brother, T.J. And like all good big brothers, Terence knows just when – and how – to pick his little brother up.

With 23.7 seconds to play in Wednesday’s Class 4 sectional at Lee’s Summit High School, T.J. could have given the Tigers a two-possession lead over Center, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 trip to the line. When Center tied the game with a bucket, Terence drew a foul and canned two free-throws with 3.5 seconds to play, providing the Tigers’ margin in a thrilling 53-51 victory.

“He (T.J.) told me in the locker room ‘Thanks for catching my back on your two free-throws,’” Terence said. “After he missed it, I wasn’t too nervous. I just knew that we’d have to tighten up the ‘D’ a little bit.”

The Yellowjackets failed to muster a shot on their final
possession, and Warrensburg (19-8) advanced to face Kearney (25-3) in a quarterfinal game slated for 7:45 p.m. Saturday at the University of Central Missouri’s Multipurpose Building.

Warrensburg had trailed Center by six before Jacob Huffman scored the final basket of the third quarter. It was the start of a 10-0 run that produced a 47-43 Tigers lead with 5:24 to play.

Kortez Woolen opened the fourth period with a 3-pointer that cut the Tigers’ deficit to one. Tyler Schmidt’s bucket gave Warrensburg its first lead of the night (44-43) after he challenged 6-foot, 7-inch Anthony Adams-Rule of Center in the paint. Then Nick Hanna nailed another 3-pointer, which gave the Tigers their largest lead.

“They set a pick on Terence and Terence rolled off and I popped out and the guy didn’t play me straight up, so I just pulled up and shot it,” Hanna said of his trey. “If he’s not going to be on me, I’m going to nail it.”

Each team’s star had to overcome foul trouble in order to factor in the finish. Adams-Rule, who led the Yellowjackets with 22 points, picked up his fourth foul on a charge with 7:38 remaining. Terence Culler, who led the Tigers with 20, was whistled for his fourth with 7:20 left on the clock.

After taking the lead, the Tigers tried to steal some time with Culler on the bench, but they were forced to reinsert him when the Yellowjackets rallied behind six straight points from Adams-Rule.

“We rolled the dice a little bit with him (Culler) having four fouls,” Nimmo said. “We wanted to make sure that we had him in there at the end, and good thing he was.”

Culler scored Warrensburg’s final six points. His tough drive and finger roll tied the score at 49-49. His jump hook put the Tigers up 51-49 with 2:03 remaining, and his two free throws sealed it.

Warrensburg students cheer during the game.

On their final possession, the Tigers inbounded to Culler, who worked his way to the left elbow, where he was fouled as he elevated for a jumper.

“He had a couple options, but he took the best option, obviously,” Nimmo said.

“He’s not our best free-throw shooter, but he’s the guy that we want on the line.”

Schmidt burned up considerable energy trying to check Adams-Rule on defense, but still managed to score 15 points for Warrensburg.

“He (Schmidt) is a warrior,” Nimmo said. “He’s as hard-nosed, as tough a kid as I’ve ever coached.”

The Tigers, who had split a pair of conference meetings with Center this year, trailed 6-0 and 24-14 in the first half, but managed to stay within striking distance.

As the game wore on, it wasn’t the Tigers who felt the pressure to rally, but the Yellowjackets who felt the pressure to hang on.

“They hit a lot of shots to begin with,” Hanna said. “They’d never hit that many shots to begin with, and we knew if we could just hang tough, and keep that gap between 10 and five, we could hang with them, and at the end, we could pull (past) them.

“At the very end, they were yelling at each other and there was a lot of confusion, so we did what we needed to do.”

After the game, as the Warrensburg players were swallowed up by their cheering schoolmates, Terence Culler reiterated his coach’s point that the win fulfills a team goal to “practice another day.”

A win meant another day for the players and coaches to enjoy each other’s company, another day for the Culler brothers to share the court.

“It definitely felt good playing with (T.J.) this year,” Culler said. “I’m going to miss that. It’s special memories that we’ll have for a long, long time.”

Below is a link to photographer Jerry Schmidt's slide show of the Warrensburg/Center game.

Sectional win