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Tigers late rally thwarted by Smith-Cotton
Nevada Daily Mail
The Nevada Tigers boys basketball team nearly picked off Sedalia Smith-Cotton with a late comeback, but fell short in the final frantic minutes, losing 59-51.
After trailing by 17 points in the third quarter, the Tigers awakened and made a game of it, thanks in large part to the offensive spark provided by senior Matt Sommer and freshman Clay Gayman.
Nevada head coach Shaun Gray was also pleased with his team's defensive effort in the second half.
"We extended the defensive a little bit, and took them out of their rhythm and what they wanted to do," Gray said. "Unfortunately, that's not a style we can play the whole game. We're not deep enough, and we only have a couple of guys that can create on their own. But as we have seen several times this year, we're able to play that way, and pretty effectively late in games."
The Tigers faced difficult matchups against the much bigger Smith-Cotton lineup, featuring 6-foot-4 junior shooting guard Chance Johnson, and 6-foot-7 junior forward Dante Scroggins.
Trailing 44-30, four free throws from Sommer with less than 10 seconds remaining in the quarter sliced into the lead.
After free throws upped Smith-Cotton's lead to 46-34 early in the fourth, a left-side drive and layup by Sommer made the score 46-36 with 5:32 left to play.
Over the next minute the teams both knocked down free throws, with Scroggins hitting two for Sedalia, and Brandon Barking knocking down a pair for Nevada, making the score 48-38 with 4:01 to play.
A Johnson bucket with 3:44 remaining increased Sedalia's advantage to 12 at 50-38.
With 2:54 showing on the clock, Gayman corralled an offensive rebound and went back up for the lay-in, cutting the deficit to 10 at 50-40. Gayman continued to dominate the offensive glass, coming down with a Tristan Smith misfire and going back up for the deuce, trimming the Smith-Cotton lead to 50-42 with 2:22 remaining in regulation. Over the next 30 seconds, the teams exchanged baskets, making the score 52-44 with 1:50 remaining.
With just 75 ticks left on the clock, Sommer drove the right baseline and hit Gayman with a scoop pass under the basket. Gayman finished with a lay-in from the left block, trimming the Sedalia lead to 52-46.
Looking to inbound the ball, Johnson stepped on the in-line, turning the ball back over to Nevada. With 1:03 on the clock, Gayman hit a cutting Sommer for a layup, as the Tigers crept to within four at 52-48.
After successfully inbounding the ball this time around, Nevada sent Smith-Cotton point guard Gavin Jones to the line, where he missed the front-end of a one-and-one.
With 50 seconds left, and Nevada trying to make it a one possession game, Gayman caught a pass in the high-post and drove the lane. Drawing heavy contact on the play, Gayman's close-range shot attempt was off-target, and rebounded by Smith-Cotton.
"Clay did a good job on that play," Gray said. "He got the ball in the high-post area, assessed, put it on the floor, went to the right-side of the lane, and (Jacob) Bergmen was just riding him ---- forearm, hip into him. And we didn't get a call.
"If we could have cut that to two, stopped the clock, and setup our press ---- you never know how the game could have went."
From there, Sedalia salted the game away from the foul line. For Nevada, Sommer finished with a game-high 20 points, while Barker added 14, and Gayman 13.
Johnson scored 20 for Smith-Cotton.
Next up
The Tigers square off against Kansas City Center, Friday evening at Wynn Gym.
Nevada JV
The Nevada junior varsity boys fell in dramatic fashion at home 42-41 Tuesday to Sedalia Smith-Cotton, as a 3-pointer from the right wing went down at the buzzer.
"The last shot was contested OK, but there were two times before where we did not put a hand up and dared them to make, it and they did," Nevada JV coach Kyle Talley said. "Those mistakes can't happen for us if we want to win."