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Tigers, Lady Tigers sweep Center in regular-season finale
Kansas City — The Nevada Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball teams concluded their regular-seasons on a high-note Thursday evening, notching a varsity twinbill sweep of the Center High School Yellowjackets.
In the boys' contest Nevada held a 28-18 halftime advantage, as the dynamic duo of Dalton Gayman and Logan Applegate combined for 26 of the Tigers' 28 first half points.
Nevada held a 34-25 lead entering the fourth, and led by a dozen via Applegate's traditional three-point play early in the fourth.
A Gayman lay-in extended Nevada's advantage to 41-27, and a Gayman free throw with 40 seconds remaining kept the Tigers in front, 44-36.
A traditional three-point play on an NBA-style continuation-and-foul trimmed Center's deficit to five.
With 15 seconds remaining Nevada junior guard Lane McNeley was off-target on the front-end of a one-and-one. Center capitalized, as Guerchon Maxi's 3-ball sliced the deficit to 44-42 with two seconds showing on the clock.
Center was able to quickly foul Gayman, who missed the first and knocked down the second for a three-point Tiger lead.
Keyren Spiller then corralled the inbound pass, and his 60-foot heave at the buzzer slammed off the right-side of the back-board.
Gayman (25) and Applegate (17) combined for 42 of Nevada's 45 points, as the Tigers wrap the regular-season at 21-3 overall.
"Our guys did a great job of slowing the pace of the game, and making it a half-court game," said Nevada head coach, Shaun Gray. "Our sagging man-to-man, and 2-3 zone defenses — both did a great job of clogging the paint all night."
In addition to pouring in a game-high 25 points, Gayman put forth a dynamite defensive effort. Gray added that he was pleased with his club's collective defensive effort.
"Dalton, drawing charges and blocking shots was key," Gray noted. "Logan and Lane (McNeley) battling taller players on the wings, and boxing them out, was huge for us. And, Noah (Cheaney) and Applegate did a great job of keeping the ball out of the high-post all night."
Gray continued: "We did a good job of breaking their full-court pressure, and of handling our emotions, and having composure late in the game. This was a good win, a tough gritty performance, and a lot of guys making key plays against a high-quality opponent.
"Excited for postseason play Saturday."
As Gray alluded to, the third-seeded Tigers will square off with sixth-seeded Pleasant Hill in the opening-round of the Class 4 District 13 Tournament Saturday in Harrisonville. Tip-off is slated for 4:15 p.m.
Nevada's junior varsity boys' squad was tripped up by Center, 50-37, as the Tigers wrapped their season at 11-10 overall. For the JV Tigers, guard Evan Rea dropped in a team-high 10 points.
Lady Tigers
In the girls' contest Nevada dominated from start-to-finish, downing the Lady Yellowjackets, 54-34.
The non-conference victory moves the Lady Tigers to 21-4 overall.
Nevada raced out to a 17-4 first quarter lead, and led 26-16 at the break.
Nevada junior guard Tylin Heathman dropped in seven third quarter points, helping the Lady Tigers extend their advantage to 38-25 through three quarters of play.
The Lady Tigers used a balanced scoring attack to pull away in the final frame, as seven different Nevada players entered the scoring column en route to the 20-point victory.
Calli Beshore pitched in 13 points for the Lady Tigers, while Payge Dahmer added 12, and Heathman, 10.
"Really proud of our girls, that was a great team win for us," said Nevada head coach, Brent Bartlett. "It's a good way to end the regular-season, going into district-play."
The top-seeded Lady Tigers received a first-round bye in the Class 4 District 13 girls' Tournament at Harrisonville, and are idle until March 3.
"We're excited about the upcoming district tournament, where the records are 0-0," Bartlett noted.
In the junior varsity girls' contest, the Lady Tigers administered a 46-6 thrashing of Center, as Nevada held a 28-0 halftime lead. The convincing victory concludes their season with a sparkling 17-1 overall record.
For the JV Lady Tigers Grace Barnes tallied a game-high 11 points, including a trio of 3-point makes.
See a future edition for all the latest on Nevada basketball