|
|
|
For three quarters, Neosho and McDonald County played nearly dead even Friday night at McDonald County High School.
Now, if it wasn’t for that crazy first quarter.
The Mustangs used a tremendous homecourt advantage and hot shooting early on from their trio of dynamic scoring threats to jump out to a 20-6 first quarter lead. Then, McDonald County held serve the rest of the way in a 68-53 victory over the Wildcats.
Fresh off the homecoming festivities, McDonald County came out swinging in the first eight minutes. The Mustangs scored the game’s first 10 points and took advantage of a handful of Neosho miscues to build a big early lead. All 20 first quarter points came from Miguel Morales, Chance Buttram and Jordan Wells.
“(McDonald County) was the aggressor tonight, they were tougher and that’s why they came away with a win,” Neosho coach Ben Ponce said.
In the second quarter, Neosho sorted things out on offense but the Mustangs continued to score points and took a 35-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Neosho came out in the third quarter seemingly determined to claw back into the contest. After opening on a 5-2 run, the Wildcats forced the Mustangs to take a timeout with the 14 point deficit shaved down to just seven.
The Mustangs were able to go on a small run to close out the third and built their lead back to ten points going into the fourth quarter.
In the final eight minutes, the Mustangs sealed the game at the free throw line. McDonald County went 14-for-18 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and scored 21 points in the final frame to close out the win.
“This week has been the best week of basketball that this team has played all season,” McDonald County coach Trent Barratt said after his team’s win. “As far as in practice and then in these last two games. We lost a really tough one on Tuesday (49-48 vs. Carthage) and then to come out and play like we did tonight. It’s the best we’ve played this season.”
Neosho senior Ethan Murray did all he could to keep Neosho alive in the final minutes, scoring 13 of his game-high 31 in the fourth. But it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats dropped their seventh straight after a big win on Jan. 6 over Pittsburg, Kan.
Other scorers for Neosho were: Blake Nagurne 8, Tyrell Hembree 6, Johnny Lowe 3, Pearce Craig 2, Preston Johnson 2 and Logan Davidson 1. Murray had eight rebounds to go with his 31 points.
For three quarters, Neosho and McDonald County played nearly dead even Friday night at McDonald County High School.
Now, if it wasn’t for that crazy first quarter.
The Mustangs used a tremendous homecourt advantage and hot shooting early on from their trio of dynamic scoring threats to jump out to a 20-6 first quarter lead. Then, McDonald County held serve the rest of the way in a 68-53 victory over the Wildcats.
Fresh off the homecoming festivities, McDonald County came out swinging in the first eight minutes. The Mustangs scored the game’s first 10 points and took advantage of a handful of Neosho miscues to build a big early lead. All 20 first quarter points came from Miguel Morales, Chance Buttram and Jordan Wells.
“(McDonald County) was the aggressor tonight, they were tougher and that’s why they came away with a win,” Neosho coach Ben Ponce said.
In the second quarter, Neosho sorted things out on offense but the Mustangs continued to score points and took a 35-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Neosho came out in the third quarter seemingly determined to claw back into the contest. After opening on a 5-2 run, the Wildcats forced the Mustangs to take a timeout with the 14 point deficit shaved down to just seven.
The Mustangs were able to go on a small run to close out the third and built their lead back to ten points going into the fourth quarter.
In the final eight minutes, the Mustangs sealed the game at the free throw line. McDonald County went 14-for-18 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and scored 21 points in the final frame to close out the win.
“This week has been the best week of basketball that this team has played all season,” McDonald County coach Trent Barratt said after his team’s win. “As far as in practice and then in these last two games. We lost a really tough one on Tuesday (49-48 vs. Carthage) and then to come out and play like we did tonight. It’s the best we’ve played this season.”
Neosho senior Ethan Murray did all he could to keep Neosho alive in the final minutes, scoring 13 of his game-high 31 in the fourth. But it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats dropped their seventh straight after a big win on Jan. 6 over Pittsburg, Kan.
Other scorers for Neosho were: Blake Nagurne 8, Tyrell Hembree 6, Johnny Lowe 3, Pearce Craig 2, Preston Johnson 2 and Logan Davidson 1. Murray had eight rebounds to go with his 31 points.
“I thought the effort was pretty good for the most part,” Ponce said. “We came out a little flat in the first quarter and let them do what they wanted right off the bat. Miguel came out and had a great first half. I thought in the second half Wells came to play and hit a couple of big shots.”
For McDonald County, Morales led the way with 22 points and five assists. Wells and Buttram had 18 and 17 points, respectively for McDonald County. Wells pulled down nine boards for the Mustangs.
Other scorers for McDonald County were: Andrew Nicoletti 6, Pablo Alvarez 4 and Tyler Lett 1.
McDonald County will travel to Cassville on Thursday. With no conference title to contend for, the Mustangs’ focus is solely on districts and getting the best possible seeding possible for the tournament.
“Cassville is a district opponent,” Barratt said. “We are 3-1 in our district this season and we are hoping to improve on that. There is still some time to tune up but, we are not taking any of these games lightly."
