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You know why the story of David and Goliath is so special?
Because “David” normally gets crushed underfoot.
Friday night, the Neosho Wildcats took on the No. 2-ranked Nixa Eagles. And Goliath rolled to a 70-30 victory.
In the first quarter, Neosho actually went basket-for-basket with the Eagles. With less than a minute to go in the quarter, the score was 13-13.
But, in those last 50 seconds, Nixa drained a three, got a steal and hit a layup to carry a five-point lead to the bench.
“I thought our effort in the first quarter was real good,” Neosho coach Ben Ponce said. “We came out with some intensity. Nixa got some putbacks but we didn’t panic. We took advantage of some mismatches and moved the ball well.”
In the second quarter, the light came on for Nixa and the rout got started. The Eagles got hot from beyond the arc and outscored Neosho 21-7 in the second to take a 39-20 lead into the locker room.
“Nixa got some turnovers and turned them into easy buckets,” Ponce said. “We didn’t execute at all on offense from the second quarter on. We had way too many empty possessions tonight. You cannot give a team that good any reason to score outside of the halfcourt set. We have to actually get shots up to slow down the game.”
In the second half, matters got worse for the Wildcats. Nixa turned the game into a track meet and extended the lead again, outscoring Neosho 26-6 in the frame.
“They exploited our weaknesses,” Ponce said. “They are clearly just a much better team.”
Neosho was led in scoring by Ethan Murray with 17. Murray is now just nine points away from eclipsing 1,000 points in his varsity career. It is a feat that he hopes to achieve Tuesday night on his home floor.
Other scorers for Neosho were: Blake Nagurne 5, Dustin Flory 4, Tyrell Hembree 2 and Logan Davidson 2.
Nixa hit 11 3-pointers in the game, Neosho had just one.
Tuesday night, Neosho will host Republic. Tip off of the junior varsity game is at 6 p.m.
You know why the story of David and Goliath is so special?
Because “David” normally gets crushed underfoot.
Friday night, the Neosho Wildcats took on the No. 2-ranked Nixa Eagles. And Goliath rolled to a 70-30 victory.
In the first quarter, Neosho actually went basket-for-basket with the Eagles. With less than a minute to go in the quarter, the score was 13-13.
But, in those last 50 seconds, Nixa drained a three, got a steal and hit a layup to carry a five-point lead to the bench.
“I thought our effort in the first quarter was real good,” Neosho coach Ben Ponce said. “We came out with some intensity. Nixa got some putbacks but we didn’t panic. We took advantage of some mismatches and moved the ball well.”
In the second quarter, the light came on for Nixa and the rout got started. The Eagles got hot from beyond the arc and outscored Neosho 21-7 in the second to take a 39-20 lead into the locker room.
“Nixa got some turnovers and turned them into easy buckets,” Ponce said. “We didn’t execute at all on offense from the second quarter on. We had way too many empty possessions tonight. You cannot give a team that good any reason to score outside of the halfcourt set. We have to actually get shots up to slow down the game.”
In the second half, matters got worse for the Wildcats. Nixa turned the game into a track meet and extended the lead again, outscoring Neosho 26-6 in the frame.
“They exploited our weaknesses,” Ponce said. “They are clearly just a much better team.”
Neosho was led in scoring by Ethan Murray with 17. Murray is now just nine points away from eclipsing 1,000 points in his varsity career. It is a feat that he hopes to achieve Tuesday night on his home floor.
Other scorers for Neosho were: Blake Nagurne 5, Dustin Flory 4, Tyrell Hembree 2 and Logan Davidson 2.
Nixa hit 11 3-pointers in the game, Neosho had just one.
Tuesday night, Neosho will host Republic. Tip off of the junior varsity game is at 6 p.m.
