Parkview basketball couldn't play home games this year. The Vikings made the most of it.

As the clock ticked down late in overtime, Parkview's student section stood on its feet and chanted "this is our house" despite being in Glendale's home gym.

A 102-93 win was within the Vikings' grasp. Once the final horn sounded, the team ran over to the student section and celebrated their victory.

Parkview hasn't had too many of those moments this season and it's not because of a lack of Vikings wins. They've had to play every game away from Parkview High School because of damage to its home floor.

"Adversity has been a big thing for us," Vikings senior guard T.J. Hill said. "It feels like we never had a true home atmosphere. We never had a true game where all of our fans and it's felt like there's been games where something's always going against us. It's just kind of preparing us for this postseason. Like Coach said, that's what we want and it builds character."

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During the first week of school, the Parkview volleyball team was supposed to practice. When setting the nets up, they noticed water filling the holes where they were supposed to stick the poles. It was soon discovered that a pipe burst and damaged the hardwood.

When practice was supposed to begin for the basketball team was when work began to replace the floor, pushing Parkview to the auxiliary gym for practices and other high schools like Central and Hillcrest to play their "home" games.

"Not only has it been tough on our kids, but it's been tough on our parents," Parkview head coach Jack Simpson said. "We're asking them to do things that aren't normal but it's still special. I think it's a unique season and it'll be one that they'll look back on and appreciate. It's came with a lot of adversity and that's what you want going into the postseason."

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The Vikings have still played up to being one of the best teams in southwest Missouri. Few can match the length and athleticism that Parkview has and it led the Vikings to secure the top seed in their district when postseason play begins next week.

Along the way, they've spent five nights in hotel rooms and played seven games in Arkansas along with longer road trips to Columbia and Jefferson City.

"Whether we won or lost, making those memories while traveling with teammates is something we're always going to remember," Hill said. "We want to win all the time, but those memories we built are somethings I'm really going to look back on."

Hill has embraced his unorthodox senior season. He would have loved to finish his career playing in front of the Vikings' faithful inside his own school. He also would have loved to not practice in the school's auxiliary gym which is so cold the team often wears sweatshirts to practice to stay warm.

He, along with several other seniors on the roster, were still celebrated for their senior nights. Instead of being hung at Parkview, banners and posters of those graduating were hung up around Hillcrest as the school wore a little more green and gold than it's used to.

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It hasn't been ideal but the Vikings have embraced it.

"Coach says that our three pillars are passion, resilience and love," Hill said. "We just stay together and that's what we preach every single time. Anytime there's some sort of negativity or someone's down or misses a shot, they always preach to stay together. It's kind of our senior leadership realizing 'hey, this is our last year to do something.'

"We just never quit and we keep pushing our young guys to eventually come in and fill those spots and just assume roles and be positive. That togetherness that we've built just has kept us going."

Parkview is going to have an opportunity to make some noise this postseason. It begins play on Feb. 29 at 4 p.m. against McDonald County in the Class 5, District 6 bracket that takes place at Marshfield. The winner will play either Willard or West Plains. A potential championship could see Parkview get a rematch with Rolla or Hillcrest, the team that beat the Vikings in the district championship a year ago.

A deep postseason run could open an opportunity up for the Vikings didn't have all season — the opportunity to practice on their home floor. They would be able to practice on the finished hardwood twice before heading to Columbia if they were to make the Class 5 state semifinals.

"We still have those goals that we want to accomplish that we still haven't reached yet," Hill said. "Hopefully we can keep this momentum. We have the offensive capability and we just need to bring what we built on our defense back into the mix and really stop teams."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Parkview basketball top team despite no home games in 2023-24 season