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Nevada boys stampede visiting Mustangs
By Joe Warren
Herald-Tribune
NEVADA, Mo. -- It took a while, but when the Nevada Tigers finally started hitting open shots, they had little trouble with the McDonald County Mustangs Friday, winning 49-29.
Nevada went 1-for-9 to start the game as the Mustangs built a 6-2 lead with two minutes remaining in the first quarter, but then Nevada got on track.
Senior Seth Owings hit back-to-back mid-range jumpers to tie the game at six after one period, then he connected on a putback to get the scoring started in the second as Nevada took an 8-6 lead and never trailed again.
Later in the second junior Drew Weatherly came off the bench to hit two treys and the Tigers built a 20-10 advantage against the quick McDonald County zone defense going into the half.
In the second half Weatherly hit another 3-pointer and he led the team with 11 points as Nevada led by as many as 22 and they never let the Mustangs get closer than the 10-point cushion they started the third quarter with.
Bryan Campbell added 10 points for the Tigers and J.R. Mills pitched in with nine, all coming from the 3-point line in the second half.
The Tigers spent much of the fourth quarter simply running out the clock, as they improved to 8-4 overall, 1-1 in the Southwest Conference.
Justin Pickens led the Mustangs (3-12, 1-1) with seven points, as the Tigers held them to one point fewer than their total in the teams' first meeting this season, a 48-30 Nevada victory in the season-opener for both schools at the Carthage Boys Invitational. That Nov. 29 game didn't count in the conference standings.
"I thought our defense battled hard," Nevada head coach John McNeley said. "But it really could have been 15 or 17 (total points for the Mustangs) if we could have done some things a little better."
McNeley said the way Bryan Campbell defended Mustang ballhandlers Tyler Shaver and Kade Fields, the Tigers should have created more than the 10 turnovers they forced Friday.
"I don't think we took advantage of the fact that Bryan battled the ball hard," he said.
Even so, there were two long stretches in the first half where McDonald County was unable to garner any points.
For the final 3:18 of the first quarter and the first 2:19 of the second, the Mustangs failed to get past the six on the scoreboard. That was a stretch of 5:37 without any points. Nevada made an 8-0 run during that time.
The same was true for the final 3:57 of the second quarter and first 2:19 of the third. That 6:16 stretch also left the Mustangs scoreless. Nevada scored 13 unanswered points that time.
The only reason the game didn't get more out of hand was because of McDonald County's 2-3 zone.
The Mustangs were quick to rotate as the Tigers passed the ball around the perimeter, and McDonald County kept Nevada from getting the ball inside.
"They guarded us well and we didn't execute as well as we wanted to," McNeley said. "I didn't think we were as aggressive as we needed to be."
McNeley expected the game to be low-scoring, just by the way the Mustangs try to control the tempo.
"It was exactly the type of ballgame I figured it'd be," he said.
The Tigers will be at Carthage Tuesday and McDonald County will be at home to play Neosho as both teams continue Southwest Conference play.