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Nevada Tigers fall to Seneca at home
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
"It's the best game we've played. No doubt about it." Despite the fact that his team lost, Nevada Tigers head coach John McNeley had a significant amount of good to say about his squad's performance in its return to Wynn Gymnasium Friday night, against the Indians of Seneca High School.
The Tigers came into the night still with a lot of questions after an up-and-down start to the season, but their best offensive showing of the year, combined with a solid showing on the defensive end, allowed the Tigers to give a solid Indians squad all it could handle in a 64-60 defeat.
"I think this team can go to places that people probably didn't think we'd be able to," McNeley said. "And we got a little bit of an inkling of that tonight."
Friday night's contest was one that could easily have "gotten ugly and gotten ugly early," McNeley said and when looking at the final game statistics, fans might think it did. Though the Tigers did have a significant edge in field-goal shooting, Seneca won the turnover battle, 16-8, and pulled in a staggering 21 offensive rebounds to just seven for Nevada.
"Yeah, 21 is a ton of offensive rebounds to give up," McNeley said. "I mean, you've got to compete on the defensive boards, but it basically comes down to want to and desire."
That wasn't the area that proved to be the most significant difference-maker on the night, however. What McNeley seemed disappointed in more than anything was the fact that his squad fell short by just four points, but was outscored at the free-throw line by 16 in the contest.
"Holy cow," he said. "Boy, when you get outscored at the free-throw line by 16 points on your home floor, that's not an experience you'd like to go through."
The Tigers nearly made up for the fact that they only attempted four free throws in the contest to Seneca's 26 from the field, as McNeley's squad shot a strong 53.2 percent for the game, while holding Seneca to just 37 percent.
"That's pretty good," McNeley said of the field-goal numbers. "You ought to win games when you shoot 53.2 percent. It's hard to lose when you out-shoot your opponent by that big of a percentage."
Devion Leavell led the offensive effort for the Tigers in the contest, as he finished the night with 19 points, shooting 9-for-19 from the field. Leavell was joined in double figures by Brandon Barker, who finished the night with 15.
For Seneca, Tyler Hembree led the offensive effort with 20 points and was followed closely by Elias Roelfsema with 19. Those two were joined in double figures by Chance Smith, who finished with 14, despite a sprained ankle McNeley and his staff thought would keep the senior out of the game.
"We were actually under the impression the Smith kid was not going to play," McNeley said. "We had heard that he had a severely sprained ankle and was going to be out at least a few more weeks."
The Tigers' freshman squad was in action on the night, as well, and had much better luck. Head coach Shaun Gray's squad cruised to a 58-22 victory in which they were never really challenged.
"Defensive pressure in the first and third quarters keyed big runs, which we outscored Seneca, 43-5," Gray said. "(The) boys responded well to some intense Christmas break practices and played a hard-nosed, physical style of play."
Matt Sommer led the offense for the Tigers in the contest, as he finished with 15 points. Sommer was joined in double figures by Patrick Ferry and John Quitno, who finished the night with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Tigers' JV squad was also in action on the night, but those results were not available at press time.
Next on the schedule for Nevada is Monday, when all three of the Tigers squads are scheduled to head back out on the road to take on the Bears of Butler High School. The first game on the schedule that night is set to tip off at 5 p.m., at Butler High School, weather permitting.