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Seventh-Heaven: Nevada 7th-graders cap perfect season with Tri-County title win
WEBB CITY ---- The Nevada Tigers seventh-grade basketball team has conquered the Tri-County Conference.
Not only did Nevada capture the TCC regular-season crown, but they swept through the season-ending Tri-County Basketball Tournament, toppling the Webb City Cardinals 50-41 in double-overtime Thursday night.
Making the feat more impressive, was that it was the second time this season the top-seeded Tigers defeated second-seeded Webb City.
Coming out on the winning end of Thursday night's thriller leaves no doubt as to who the undisputed champion of the TCC league is ---- the 15-0 Nevada Tigers.
"I want to thank the players for their hard-work and dedication," Tigers head coach Robert Miner said, "and to also thank all the parents for all of their time and support."
Many of the players on Minor's squad have played together for years on traveling basketball teams, giving them excellent on-court chemistry.
"This is a very unselfish group of boys," Miner said. "They worked very well together as a team and always kept each other up. Going undefeated is extremely hard to do and if we don't have that team chemistry, than that does not happen."
TCC tourney title game
Webb City mounted a late-comback, culminating with Devrin Weathers 3-pointer near the end of regulation, tying the game at 36 apiece to force overtime.
One overtime was not enough however, as the teams needed a second extra session to determine the 2016 TCC tournament champion.
The second extra session was dominated by the Tigers as they outscored Webb City by nine points. For Nevada, point guard Logan Applegate dropped in eight of his game-high 20 points during the two overtimes. Applegate's perfromance included knocking down 8-of-9 free throws while also hitting two 3-pointers. In addition, Applegate had ice-water in his veins, connecting on 6-of-6 charities during the extra sessions.
"Our free throw shooting really paid off in the overtimes," Miner said.
Logan McNeley joined Applegate in double-figures with 11 points to go along with six rebounds, while Kaden Denney chipped in with nine points and three rebounds. Ben Hines had a nice all-around performance, tallying seven points, 11 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Lane McNeley added three points.
"Hats off to Webb City for coming out and playing a heck of a game," Miner said. "They were fired up and took us out of our rhythm early.
Miner said he informed his team prior to the game, just how difficult it would be to defeat a quality opponent like the Cardinals twice in the same season, as Nevada had previously handed the Cardinals a 44-36 defeat Jan. 11 in Nevada.
This time around, Nevada was playing on Webb's home-court, and led 7-4 after one quarter of play. Nevada was strong in the second frame, outscoring the Cardinals 9-6 to even the score at 13-13 heading into the halftime break.
"I'm extremely proud of the boys for overcoming an early deficit and fighting tooth-and-nail the rest of the game," Miner said.
The Tigers emerged from the locker room, outscoring Webb City 12-6 to go on top 25-19. Applegte and Denney combined to scored all of the Tigers third quarter points.
"In the second half we came out with more fire and executed better offensively and defensively," the TCC championship winning coach noted.
Webb City bounced back in the final frame, outscoring the Tigers 17-11 to force overtime ---- and from there the rest is history.
2016 season recap
Opponent ---- Score
* Pittsburg - W. 36-30
* Frontenac - W. 44-22
* Webb City - W. 44-36
* Fort Scott - W. 48-18
* El Do - W. 43-21
* Joplin East - W. 50-30
* Carthage - W. 46-30
* Joplin So. -W. 38-22
* C.J. - W. 53-38
* Neosho - W. 43-30
* Joplin No. - W. 48-20
---- TCC Tourney ----
* Neosho - W. 51-12
* Joplin No. - W. 43-25
* Webb City - W. 50-41 (double overtime)
TCC tourney roster
* Logan Applegate, Lane McNeley, Logan McNeley, Kaden Denney, Ben Hines, Wesley Balk, Blake Pryor, Treytin Moore, and John Bloesser.