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Nevada boys salvage third place in Bolivar
By Joe Warren
Nevada Herald
With the Nevada Tigers mired in a three-game losing streak and what seemed to be a season-long first-half funk, coach John McNeley decided to shake things up a little in an effort to get the Tigers out of the blocks a little faster than usual.
Rather than requiring the normal quiet, mind-numbing bus ride to the game designed to get the players focused, McNeley had the team stay up-beat and allowed them to interact more, hoping to keep the Tigers awake and alert from the opening tip.
He also changed the pre-game warmups to get the Tigers more active in hopes to have them hitting their stride as the game began.
For the most part, the strategy worked.
While the Tigers still struggled to score points in the first half Friday (only 20, one day after only scoring 16 against Hillcrest), they did play with more intensity against the Lebanon Yellow Jackets in the Bolivar Liberator Classic third-place game.
The result was a 55-48 win for the Tigers, and a much happier coach after the game.
"We fought and clawed in the first half," McNeley said. "I knew we were ready to play."
The Tigers trailed going into halftime 21-20, but McNeley felt better about the effort.
"Our approach was a lot better, even though we didn't score (much)," he said.
McNeley said the changes had the desired effect.
"We changed our warm-up to make sure we had a good perspiration before the game," McNeley said.
The coach was not happy with the way his team started the game Thursday in a 58-50 loss to Hillcrest. He said that is when he decided to make the changes.
"After the ballgame Thursday night we did some soul searching," he said. That led to the change in the bus-ride philosophy. "We had gotten to the point where we got off the bus like a bunch of zombies."
In addition to the changes in the pre-game routines, McNeley also made a change in the starting lineup Friday.
Seldom-used senior guard Adam Gullett got the nod, starting over junior J.R. Mills.
McNeley said the move was to show his team that what you do in practice will lead to playing time in games.
"I got to thinking it's time for me to either put up or shut up," McNeley said. "This was to reward him for doing things the right way."
Gullett scored four points and was effective defensively while also doing a solid job in the flow of the offense.
Another change was in the rotation. Eric Good got some playing time Friday that had been going to Nathan Gragg most of the season. McNeley said that is a testament to the improvement Good has shown. At 6-4, Good gives the Tigers more size than anyone else on the roster.
"Good has just worked himself into the position where he is ready to contribute," McNeley said. "He's active and he gives you that last line of defense. Good's proven to me now that he's ready."
Even though the changes were made allowing new players a chance to shine, it was a season-long starter that got the Tiger offense going.
Just before the half sophomore Bryan Campbell got the offense jump-started when he scored four points on two acrobatic shots in the lane during the final minute of the half to cut a 21-16 deficit to one point.
Prior to the two buckets, Campbell had been held scoreless.
The offensive momentum carried into the second half.
As Lebanon changed from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man, the Tigers started running the pick-and-roll with Campbell and Eric Atkinson.
The play worked repeatedly in the third quarter with Campbell coming off Atkinson's screens on the right elbow, then driving to the right side of the lane and hanging for either a short jumper or a layup.
The play worked to the tune of 21 points for Campbell, 13 in the third period, and Nevada went on a 15-0 run to start the second half.
McNeley said that Campbell is just starting to scratch the surface of his talents.
"With (Campbell), he can do so many things, he doesn't give himself enough credit," McNeley said. "He doesn't know that he can score so many ways. As long as Lebanon was in a man-to-man, there was no reason to run anything else."
The run was sparked by Campbell getting a bucket right out of halftime, then on the next play he dished to Atkinson coming off the pick and the senior post scored his only basket of the night.
After Taylor Rainey hit two free throws, Gullett got a bucket on a steal and a fast break layup.
Then Campbell scored the next two buckets to push Nevada's lead to 32-21.
A 3-pointer by Logan Moore, his second of the game, capped the run and gave Nevada a 35-21 lead.
The Tigers finished with 24 points in the third quarter and had a lead of 17 points going into the final period.
In the fourth quarter Nevada scored all 11 of their points from the free-throw line as they held off a furious Lebanon comeback to seal the game.
McNeley pointed to the third period start as the key stretch in the game.
"We had everything going our way," McNeley said.
The run was helped by tight officiating from the two-man crew, usually hampering the physical Yellow Jackets.
The Tigers even got two points on Mills' free throws after a technical foul by Lebanon's Max Meckem late in the third quarter.
The win improved Nevada's record to 10-10 this season. The Tigers are in action again Tuesday when they resume Southwest Conference play with a trip to Neosho.
Neosho beat Nevada in the first meeting between the schools, 53-47 on Jan. 21, in Nevada.