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Tiger ballers take Lamar to the woodshed
LAMAR, Mo. -- A game that many expected to be closely contested didn't materialize as the Nevada Tigers never trailed on their way to a 66-50 victory over the Lamar Tigers Monday.
Nevada (15-8) got 21 points from J.R. Mills and 17 from Bryan Campbell as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back.
Lamar (16-6) got into foul trouble early and trailed by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter. The visitors from Nevada simply had too much firepower.
"We knew we were going to have our hands full coming in," Nevada coach John McNeley said of the expectations. "They're a legitimate ballclub."
Nevada used a stingy man-to-man defense to limit Lamar to only 20 points in the first half.
"I really thought we guarded hard early and guarded effective early," McNeley said. "We felt like the first half was an awful good half."
While Nevada was holding its opponent to 20 points, they scored 31, led by Mills, who picked up where he left off in a state record-tying performance Friday.
Mills, who had eight 3-pointers in the first half against McDonald County Friday, dropped a trio from beyond the arc in the first half against Lamar. The 6-foot senior had 13 points going into the break.
Helping Mills on the offensive end in the second quarter were seniors Eric Good and Logan Moore. Good scored six of his season-high 10 points in the second period, while Moore added five of his seven in the quarter.
Any thoughts Lamar had of getting back in the game in the third period went out the window when Mills scored the first five points of the second half.
With 3:32 remaining in the third, Mills nailed his fifth and final trey of the game to put Nevada up 41-24.
As the third quarter came to a close, Campbell ignited a scoring flurry that saw him score 10 points in about a 90-second span.
Good scored on an offensive rebound off a missed free throw with three seconds left in the quarter to put Nevada up 53-31 going into the final period.
Lamar put together a small run late to close the final margin of victory to 16 points, the closest they came to Nevada since early in the third period.
McNeley, after watching his team put on its second strong performance in a row, was in a good mood after the game.
"From start to finish, no doubt it was our best performance for 32 minutes," McNeley said.
While the defensive performance had been there most of the season, McNeley was pleased with how the offense is taking off with the season coming to a close.
"Offensively, we just played basketball at times, and made basketball plays," he said.
He praised Campbell and Mills for their offensive approach.
"J.R. and Bryan really had super ballgames," McNeley said. "(Mills) is in such a zone, now he thinks he can make absolutely everything."
Lamar struggled in part because of foul trouble to starters Josiah Haag and Ory Jeffries.
Both players had three fouls in the first half, and Jeffries picked up his fourth early in the third period.
"We knew they would be aggressive," McNeley said. "They're just not the same ballclub when Jeffries is not in the ballgame."
Jeffries still led Lamar with 14 points, while Haag and Micah Peterson each scored 10.
As much as McNeley and the Tigers would like to enjoy their win Monday, they turn back around today and host Carthage in the final home game of the season for Nevada.
"Every time we've come off a performance that you'd like to savor, we have another one right on top of it," McNeley said. "We've played two awful good ballgames in a row, with a lot to play for."
Nevada will have a girls-boys doubleheader tonight at Wynn Gymnasium beginning at 6 p.m. Nevada will close the regular season at Webb City, Friday. The district tournament is next week in Carl Junction.
Notes: Nine different players scored for Nevada Monday ... Both teams took good care of the basketball as they each ended up with nine turnovers ... After starting the game 2-for-6 from the free-throw line, Nevada finished 14-for-22.