Tigers fall in final game
By Eric Wade
Nevada Daily Mail
After putting up just four points in the opening period and being shut out in the second, the Nevada Tigers found themselves in a quick 14-point hole as they entered halftime of the seventh place game of the Harrisonville Holiday tournament.
The Tigers came into the contest on a high from their first win of the tournament over the Marksmen of Sherwood High School, but were forced to play with a very short roster. Senior Ross Wolfe was forced to sit out yet another game due to a hip flexor injury that has plagued him for a larger portion of the year. That devastating blow to the Tigers' offense came just one game after Wolfe put up a career-high 28 points to lift the Tigers past Sherwood by a final score of 54-46.
The Tigers were also without sophomore Kyle Banes for disciplinary reasons in the first half, leaving them with just two eligible players on the bench.
The Tigers never really were able to make a recovery from the woes of that first half and eventually dropped the contest by a final score of 44-29, giving the Pirates fifth place in the tournament.
The Tigers were able to convert on just two of 22 field goals in the half and Banes' return in the third quarter seemed to make all the difference. The Tigers finished the opening half with just four points, but seemed to find new life in the third period as they scored twice as many points in that period alone than they had in the entire first half.
As a team, the Tigers shot much better in the second half, but still only manage to convert on nine of 28 shots to improve their overall shooting percentage to 22 percent. Turnovers proved to be a major course of issue for the Tigers as well, as they gave up the ball a total of 13 times.
Joseph Ferry seemed to take the entire game on his shoulders and was nearly able to do just that as he made three treys in the fourth quarter alone in an attempt to bring the Tigers back into the game. Ferry proved to be the biggest part of the Tigers' offense in the second half and was able to lead them through the end of the game and kept the Pirates in sight as he finished the game with a team-high 13 points.
The early hole that the Tigers had dug for themselves proved to be too much to overcome, however, as they matched up with the Pirates very well in the second half and were outscored by just one point, eventually falling by a final score of 44-29.
That contest gave the Pirates of Platte County the fifth-place trophy for the tournament, improving their overall record to 5-5 on the year while dropping the Tigers to 3-5. That concludes the competition for the Tigers in 2009, as they are scheduled to take some time off for the holidays before returning to action on Jan. 7, when they host the Tigers of Carthage.