Webb City outguns Tigers

Nevada?s Ty Holmes (No. 41) looks for open teammate to escape Webb City trap.

The Nevada Tigers simply couldn?t match Webb City?s firepower in a 68-57 Southwest Conference loss on Tuesday.

?We?re not going to win any shootouts,? said Nevada coach John McNeley. ?We were much less effective on the defensive end than we needed to be.

?We didn?t do some of the little things, like being aware of what?s going on behind us, that we?re very capable of doing. They got a lot of points sneaking in behind our zone.?

The Tigers (4-7) never led, while dropping their second straight and fifth in six starts. Webb City improved to 9-7.

Generating offense, a season-long problem for Nevada, was again an issue.

Matt Davis led Nevada with 18 points. Bryan Campbell scored 17, Ty Holmes 12 and Taylor Rainey seven. Five others who saw action managed only three.

Nevada trailed 12-9 after the first quarter, 32-24 at the intermission.

Holmes, after a scoreless first half, found his stroke early in the third quarter. Following buckets by Rainey and Davis, Holmes nailed two consecutive treys to pull the Tigers to within five at 39-34. Webb City rallied to extend the lead to 12 at the end of the third period.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers made one last-gasp run at the Cardinals. With about two minutes to go, Rainey and Holmes hit consecutive 3-pointers to narrow the gap to 63-57. A 5-0 Webb City run closed out the victory.

Down the stretch, it was the Brayden Drake show. Webb City?s athletic junior point guard, who tallied a game-high 28 points, scored 12 of the Cardinals? final 15.

Rainey put the Tigers? frustration in perspective.

He said, ?Day in and day out, we?ve just got to get better?keep working hard. We can?t give up.

Nevada remains home for another Southwest Conference matchup on Thursday against McDonald County.

JV game

The Nevada junior varsity, while improving to 3-5, stopped Webb City 51-39.

Leading throughout most of the contest, the Tigers held a 28-19 advantage at the half.

Justin Reed topped Nevada with 15 points, while Eric Atkinson and Logan Moore added 10 and nine, respectively. Moore led the Tiger rebounders with six.