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Tigers beat Monett at home, 71-53
Tuesday night marked a special occasion for Nevada High School with two different groups of people receiving recognition for their accomplishments and contributions. The first of those two was the Nevada R-5 staff, members of which received a nod for their efforts to improve and keep the school district going.
The school district's staff received its recognition during and just after the Nevada Tigers junior varsity team's 39-36 victory over the Monett Cubs. Halftime of the varsity game gave fans another special treat as members of the Nevada Lady Tigers softball team and their coaches were presented with rings commemorating their Class 3 State Championship.
The Lady Tigers won the state title at the Killian Sports Complex in Springfield, Mo., with a 4-3 victory over the Lady Pirates of Boonville High School in October, to cap off the program's best season ever with a 23-5 record. Thanks to that and the recognition given to the R-5 staff, the Tigers were afforded one of the best crowds of fans they have played in front of in recent memory.
"It was a good atmosphere to play in. A little better crowd than we're accustomed to because of the, you know, two different events tonight; honoring the R-5 staff and in addition to that, you know, the softball girls receiving their rings at halftime," Tigers head coach John McNeley said. "So we knew it was going to be a good atmosphere and knew it was going to be a crowd that we could use to our advantage. And I thought it was a factor."
The Tigers used that large, energetic crowd to their advantage from halftime on to take control of the contest and ultimately put up their best offensive showing of the season and one of the best in recent memory in a 71-53 victory in a game that genuinely was a tale of two halves.
The Tigers came into the game already holding a head-to-head victory over head coach Ty Goetz's Cubs as the two squads faced each other in the first game of the Carthage Invitational tournament at the beginning of the season. That contest was the first game of the year for both squads and Nevada came away with the victory by a final score of 60-49
"The first ballgame, early on, we guarded well and scored the ball well and got a lead established and got a lead established and just kind of held on and built it a little bit from that point in time," McNeley said.
As should be expected, both teams have evolved since then, creating a much different looking contest through the first two quarters. McNeley called the first half a "sluggish" performance by his squad that allowed Monett to create a total of nine ties and four lead changes, but things picked up on both ends of the floor for the Tigers after the break, allowing them to pull away and ultimately take the 18-point victory.
"You know, first half was sluggish. We didn't play on either end like we needed to," McNeley said. "We didn't guard well and just didn't have a sense of urgency like we were going to have to have.
Monett came into the night with a notable measure of momentum from having taken a very strong Mount Vernon team to overtime last Tuesday before beating Aurora on Friday and it showed as they were able to use a stiff full court press to keep the Tigers off balance throughout the majority of the first half.
After the ring presentation in during the halftime intermission, that all changed, though. Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers looked like an entirely different team as they were able to consistently find answers for everything the Cubs threw their way and quickly started to open up a decided advantage on the scoreboard. The Tigers took the lead for the final time in the third quarter after heading into the break trailing 30-29 and never looked back.
"The last 16 minutes was pretty good basketball. We didn't exactly finish it the way we really liked. I mean, we gave up some uncontested at the end, but in terms of comparing the first 16 minutes with the second 16 minutes, there wasn't any comparison at all," McNeley said. "The second half was pretty well played. First half, we felt we were very average on both ends of the floor."
McNeley said his squad seemed to come to life in the second half, sharing the ball much more willingly than in the first 16 minutes and the shooting picked up substantially as well. Despite those fundamental changes, however, McNeley said he and his squad didn't really discuss "the X's and O's" of the game during the break much at all.
"Basically, we talked in terms of, 'How much does it mean to you and are we going to play this next 16 minutes with a sense of urgency?' And I think our kids responded to that challenge and came down and played a pretty good second half," he said.
By the time the third quarter came to a close, the Tigers had turned the one-point deficit they took into overtime into an 11-point lead by outscoring the Cubs 21-9 in the period. The offense didn't slow down from that point on and the Tigers finished the game outscoring Monett 42-23 in the second half to take the victory by a final score of 71-53.
Cory Kerbs put up his second straight offensive clinic as he led all scorers on the night with 22 points in the victory. "I mean, two games in a row where he's played extremely well," McNeley said of the 5-foot-10-inch junior.
Three other Tigers finished the night in double figures as Joseph Ferry finished the night with 15 points, while Daniel Potter scored 11 and Silas Smith followed closely with 10. For Monett, Jacob Fair led the offensive effort with 15, while Kyle Woods finished with 13 and Tyler Green had 10.
With that win, the Tigers improved to 5-9 on the year and are scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 25, when they host long-time rivals, the Webb City Cardinals inside Wynn Gymnasium.
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