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Tigers shake off the rust against Mavs
Anybody could have forgiven the Nevada High School boys basketball team for being rusty Friday night against Metro Academy.
Well, almost anybody.
“There are a lot of people that probably think there’s an excuse to come out flat with not having practice all week. We just told each other to make sure that didn’t happen,” said NHS senior guard Logan McNeley, who did his part in the Tigers’ 67-51 win inside Wynn Gymnasium by sinking six 3-pointers, scoring a game-high 24 points, and locking down the Mavericks’ best player.
The Tigers, like all area teams, were stuck at home for most of the week after winter weather forced cancellations and postponements of several games. They didn’t even find out until Thursday that they were going to play Metro Academy, a “Kansas State High School Activities Association approved” team out of Olathe, Kan., comprised of home schoolers.
After the Mavericks drove 100 miles to play in McNeley’s home, the least he could do was be a warm host.
“I’m blessed to be a teacher’s kid and have keys to the gym. I love it,” said McNeley, whose father John is the school’s athletic director and lets him and his twin brother Lane spend most days of the year shoot around in Wynn Gym — an advantage that paid huge dividends Friday night by helping the Tigers win their ninth game in a row. “This is my home. This is where I spend my summer days. I love it here.”
Nevada (16-5) opened the game on an 11-0 run, sparked by treys from the hands of both McNeley boys.
Logan hit two more from downtown in the second quarter, at one point extending the Tigers’ lead to 13 points, but Metro Academy’s Elijah Baldovinos and Cooper Frisbie connected on threes late in the period to keep the game close.
Nevada led 33-26 at the break and needed to tighten its grip defensively against Frisbie, who entered the game averaging nearly 20 points per contest.
Logan McNeley did just that, holding the 6-foot-3 junior guard to two points in the second half and a total of nine on the night.
“It’s nice to see Logan do that. The defense he played tonight was just as impressive as the offense,” said Nevada head coach Shaun Gray, who watched as McNeley responded on the offensive end with three more 3-pointers in the third. “It’s hard to expend that much energy on the defensive end and still have that much production on the offensive end. To be that good on both ends of the floor says a lot about him.”
Thanks to some additional buckets by Lane McNeley (who finished the night with 11 points), Ben Hines (11 points, as well), and Logan Applegate (12), the Tigers outscored the Mavericks 24-10 in the third — giving themselves a 21-point cushion heading into the fourth.
On most nights it’s Applegate who leads the team in scoring. But some games, like Friday’s, everyone on the team — including Applegate — is happy to feed whoever’s got the hot hand.
“App knows, if me or my brother is hitting, he’s for sure one of the guys who will get us open. He’s such a facilitator. As good as he is, he’s so unselfish, so it’s crazy to play with him. It’s fun,” Logan McNeley said. “We all have a lot of confidence in each other, and we’ve got a lot of shooters, so we just let it fly when we get the opportunity.”
Gray agreed.
“That’s another special thing about this group, the way they share the ball, the way they find one another when they’ve got the hot hand,” said Gray, who was confident fans still haven’t seen the best out of his team. “You want to hit your stride at this point in the season. You want to be playing your best basketball. We still don’t feel like we’ve put four quarters together of our best basketball. Over the next two or three games here to wrap up the regular season, we want to continue this momentum and we want to try and get four quarters of basketball together and ride that going into districts.”
Speaking of districts, the Class 5 District 12 boys’ bracket is expected to be revealed on Saturday — with Nevada and Webb City both vying for the top seed.
“We know how important district is for us because we know we have a chance to win it and really show some people who we are,” said Logan McNeley, who wouldn’t mind getting as many opportunities as he can to put up shots in Wynn — and win, of course. “I’m kind of excited to see it. It’d be cool to get the one and then host districts. We’ll see what happens with us and Webb City.”
NEVADA JV 34, METRO ACADEMY 35
Metro Academy’s junior varsity salvaged the school’s long journey to Nevada with a 35-34 win over the Tigers to start the night.
Nevada had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but sophomore Cade Beshore’s inbound pass from 3/4 court was tipped, allowing the clock to expire.
Beshore still scored a game-high 11 points, followed by junior Jeremia Collins with nine.