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Knight Court: NEVC trumps Sheldon en route to fifth victory
Nevada Daily Mail
WALKER ---- The Northeast Vernon County Knights boys basketball team continued their winning ways, defeating the Sheldon Panthers 38-33 Friday night.
With the victory, the Knights improve to 5-1 overall, and 3-0 in the Golden Valley Conference.Sheldon drops to 1-4 overall, and 1-2 in GVC play.
Having won only two games last season, Friday's triumph over the defending GVC champs was an important one for his program, according to NEVC head coach Joel McDuffey.
"It's hard to put into words," McDuffey said of the victory. "The boys have been working so hard to get here, it's fantastic. And to go from two wins last year, with basically the same team, to completely flipping it around ---- and coming out and playing the way that they are playing, these boys deserve every moment of the limelight."
McDuffey said his squad will enjoy the win, but will quickly get back to business as they prepare for an upcoming matchup with Montrose.
"They were happy about it, but ready to move on to the next one because that's what we've got to do," McDuffey said. "That's the first time in several years that they've beat Sheldon.
"They know that we have a big game coming Monday against Montrose."
The Knights received a huge lift from center Tyrein Davis, who did major damage in the post, scoring a game-high 23 points, which accounted for 60 percent of NEVC's offensive production.
McDuffey said his offensive game-plan centered around Davis getting points down low.
"That was the whole game-plan ---- they're quick and we're a little bit bigger," he said. "So we wanted to make sure that we were getting the ball down to him on the block or in the block area, where he could bang away at it," McDuffey said. "And he did a great job of catching it at the block, but also catching it in the short corner."
Both teams came out cold from the field, as NEVC led 8-6 after the first frame.
Davis opened the second quarter with a bang, hauling in an entry pass on the right block, and going up for a layup while drawing contact. Davis knocked down the free throw to give the Knights an 11-6 lead.
Sheldon shooting guard Micah Swanson hit Kaleb Martin in transition for an easys layup, capping a quick 4-0 run, making the score 11-10.
The Knights ended the Panthers mini-run when senior guard Drue Hoagland buried a straightaway trey, handing NEVC a 14-10 lead.
After taking a 16-14 lead, Davis tallied the final four points of the half, as NEVC headed to the locker room with a 20-14 lead. The late barrage of points put the finishing touches on a big half for Davis, who scored 15.
Sheldon's top scoring option Micah Swanson was held in check from the field in the first half.
McDuffey said his defensive game-plan was heavily concentrated on stopping Swanson.
"We were focused on him because he's very athletic and we knew he was going to try to get to the hole a lot," McDuffey said.
In the opening moments of the third quarter, Davis picked up right where he left off, this time spinning around a defender and going up for the bucket, putting NEVC on top 22-14.
After only scoring two points in the first half, Swanson quickly tripled his point total, scoring back-to back baskets to slice NEVC's lead to 22-18 with 5:35 showing on the third quarter clock.
Knights forward Mitchell Longstreth took a pass on the left wing, pump faked and drained a 15-foot jumper, extending NEVC's lead to 24-18.
After trading baskets, Sheldon freshman guard Zavery Lamb hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key, cutting NEVC's lead to 26-23 with 1:54 remaining in the third quarter.
Davis was able to push the lead back out to five at 28-23, after finishing off a layup.
Knights point guard Trenton Rader gave his squad a momentum boost, when he grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast, scoring just before the third quarter horn sounded. NEVC led 30-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Lamb connected on another triple, drawing the score to 30-26. With 6:40 to play, Lamb tried to bring the Panthers within one, but missed on a 3-point attempt from the same spot as his earlier make.
With 5:29 remaining, Rader dished to Hoagland at the top of the key, and Hoagland did the rest, knifing through defenders on his way to two points, as the Knights went up 32-26.
The Panthers hurt their own cause late in the game, missing a number of free throws. Sheldon finished the night 2 for 11 from the charity stripe, while the Knights went 7 for 9.
For Sheldon, Lamb finished with a team-high 13 points, including three 3s.