Tigers, Lady Tigers prevail in opening-round play

It was a splendid start to the season for both the Nevada Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball teams Monday night.

The Lady Tigers opened the 2018-19 campaign with a 53-28 drubbing of the McDonald County Lady Mustangs in the opening round of the Carl Junction Classic.

In the nearby Carthage Invitational, the No. 2 seed Nevada boys team prevailed over No. 7 Neosho, 57-52.

In the girls’ contest, sophomore shooting guard Alison Bower led Nevada’s early charge, dropping in nine first quarter points as the Lady Tigers ran out to a 19-9 advantage, and upped their lead to 29-16 at the half.

Leading 40-25 through three quarters of play, the Lady Tigers proceeded to outscore McDonald County 13-3 in the final frame, accounting for the final 25-point margin.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” said Nevada head coach Brent Bartlett. “We played hard, I thought we executed a lot of things. But we didn’t shoot the ball the way that I think we can shoot it.”

Bartlett said he was pleased with his club’s defensive effort, as the Lady Tigers applied full-court pressure for much of the contest. Bartlett, however, said that the Lady Tigers “reached” too much resulting in too many “silly” fouls.

“When we went to more of a half-court defense and quit the silly fouling, I thought it helped out our offense there in the fourth quarter,” said the veteran head coach.

Added Bartlett: “Still, it’s an impressive victory. To score 53 points and not shoot the ball very well — I think there’s positive things (yet to come) with this team. It was a big first victory.”

Bower led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, as the super sophomore sank 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. “I thought Alison had a tremendous performance,” noted Bartlett. “Her confidence shows on the court.”

Bower looks to have taken another leap forward from a strong freshman campaign, according to Bartlett.

“I see leadership qualities with her,” explained Bartlett. “I thought she had a great game.”

The Lady Tigers return to the court today, as they wrap pool-play against Neosho. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m.

Nevada 57, Neosho 52

Despite nine first quarter points from sophomore point guard Logan Applegate, the Tigers trailed 17-12 entering the second quarter.

Nevada’s big three — Applegate, Matt Thompson, and Dalton Gayman came up big in the second, lifting the Tigers to a 29-27 halftime advantage.

Nevada (1-0) opened the second half on a 6-0 blitz, and outscored Neosho 17-10 in the third to go on top 46-37.

Neosho remained within striking distance in the fourth, trimming the deficit to five as they outscored the Tigers 15-11 — but were unable to draw any closer as the final horn sounded.

Applegate and Gayman shared game-high honors with 16 points apiece, while Thompson tallied 14.

“We think we can be a really good ball-team, we’re not yet — it’s a work-in-progress,” said fifth-year Tigers head coach Shaun Gray during his post-game radio interview.

Gray said his squad needs to improve its overall ball-handling skills.

“We need to be more secure with the basketball,” he said. “We need to do a better job of using our eyes to look off the defense — and using more ball-fakes. It’s something we practice, but it didn’t translate to (tonight’s) game as much. So it’s something we’re going to have to emphasize more.”

UP NEXT

Nevada squares off with third-seeded Rogers (Ark.) in the tourney semifinals — with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Rogers upped its record to 4-0 after knocking off Seneca in the opening-round on Monday.

“We’ll be able to use tomorrow to watch some film (on Rogers),” said Gray Monday night.

See a future edition of the Daily Mail for all the latest on Nevada Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball