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Day: January 9, 2021

PREP HOOPS ROUNDUP: CHC’s Long reaches milestone; Cavaliers earn road win, Neosho squads victorious

Posted on by Jason Peake

COLLEGE HEIGHTS BOYS 69, EXETER 60

EXETER, Mo. — Miller Long had a night to remember for the College Heights Christian boys basketball team. 

A junior guard, Long poured in 37 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, leading College Heights to a 69-60 overtime victory at Exeter on Friday night.

That’s not all. Long surpassed 1,000 career points during the game. 

CHC’s Curtis Davenport also had a double-double with 21 points and 18 rebounds. 

The game was deadlocked at 55 at the end of regulation, but the Cougars won the extra session 14-5.

The Cougars improved to 6-5. 

 

THOMAS JEFFERSON BOYS 63, PIERCE CITY 43

PIERCE CITY, Mo. — The Thomas Jefferson Cavaliers hiked their record to 8-1 with a convincing 63-43 road victory at Pierce City on Friday.

Jay Ball scored 20 points to lead the Cavaliers, while Caden Myers added 15 points and Dhruv Gheewala had 14 points. 

Kyle Renkoski led Pierce City (3-9) with 23 points. 

The Cavaliers led 32-27 at the break, but the visitors pulled away in the third period.  

Noah Hamlett, Drew Goodhope and Tyler Brouhard all hit treys in the third quarter, giving the Cavs a 49-36 cushion.

Ball had three hoops in the paint early in the fourth quarter, pushing TJ’s lead to 55-40 with six minutes left.

Moments later, a trey from Myers and a layup by Gheewala made it 60-40.

 

NEOSHO BOYS 68, LOCUST GROVE JV 29

LOCUST GROVE, Okla. — The Neosho boys basketball team bounced back nicely from Thursday’s overtime loss to the OKC Storm by earning a 68-29 victory over the Locust Grove junior varsity on Friday at the Locust Grove Invitational.

The Wildcats raced out to a 18-4 lead and never looked back. A trey from Landon Austin gave the Wildcats a 25-6 lead with 5:30 remaining in the first half, and Neosho led 37-14 at halftime. 

The Wildcats took a 52-22 lead into the fourth quarter. 

 

NEOSHO GIRLS 52, TULSA CENTRAL 27

LOCUST GROVE, Okla. — Neosho’s girls defeated Tulsa Central 52-27 at the Locust Grove Invitational.

Olivia Hixson led Neosho with 16 points. The senior guard hit three 3-pointers and went 7-for-8 at the foul line. Karlee Ellick also reached double figures with 10 points.   

The Wildcats held an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hixson drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to give Neosho a 21-12 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half. 

By the break, the Wildcats led 25-16. 

Neosho started the second half on a 7-0 run to extend its lead. Later in the third period, Hixson converted 6-of-6 free throws and the Wildcats went up 38-17.

Neosho took a 41-19 advantage into the fourth quarter. Ellick scored inside to extend Neosho’s lead to 47-23 with 3:15 left. Wildcats coach Ryan Madison got his subs plenty of minutes in the fourth quarter. 

 

KAMINSKY CLASSIC: William Chrisman holds off Carl Junction

Posted on by Lucas Davis

Carl Junction found itself in an early double-digit deficit that proved to be too great to rally back from in a 73-64 loss to William Chrisman in the nightcap on the third day of the Kaminsky Classic.

William Chrisman (4-6) opened the game with all of the momentum, putting the first 10 points on the scoreboard over the first several minutes of play. Turnovers played a large role in Carl Junction’s early struggles. The Bulldogs turnover it over 19 times total, 13 of those coming in the first half.

“We have to start off better,” Carl Junction coach Justin Pock said. “We come out of the gates and do some things that are self-inflicted, like turnovers. We dig ourselves a hole that we have to climb out of. It takes so much to climb out of it and by time we do, the energy is done or they hit some shots. We just have to play four solid quarters and not turn the basketball over.

“When you come out in the game and you are down (10) to start, that is not where you want to be. … I don’t know if we have to change something mentally, but we can’t wait until the second quarter or halfway through the first to decide to play. There is no one we play where we can get away with that.”

The early deficit put the Bulldogs’ (1-9) backs against the wall early, forcing them to find a way to claw back into the game. The margin remained near the 10-point mark, with CJ going into the second half down 34-23. Carl Junction scored the first nine points of the third quarter all on 3-pointers by Sincere Williams, Alex Baker and Mylas Derfelt to trim the lead down to one possession, 34-32.

But just as quickly as, the Bears responded with a run of their own, scoring 14 unanswered to regain a foothold at 48-32. Dayne Herl and Trey Kates knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to start the run, with Alex Atagi scoring consecutively inside twice down the floor to push the lead back to double digits, 44-32, near the midway point of the third. Herl added two free throws and Anthony Watkins scored on the drive to close the run.

“It’s a game of runs,” Pock said. “We fight back to get in it, and then they break it away again. Now, all over again, we have to fight back to get back into it. We just ran out of time.” 

Once again, Carl Junction was forced to fight back into the game, and the Bulldogs eventually cut the lead to five points, 56-51, with less than five minutes to play, but that would be as close to the lead as CJ would get before the final horn.

“We’ve been in situations where it would be easy for guys just to give up and not give any effort,” Pock said. “I tell them all the time, basketball is a long season. You have to continue to fight every game because it will pay off. I think it will for us, we just have to pull together and keep believing because good things will happen.”

STAT LEADERS

Watkins led William Chrisman with 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Herl scored 17 to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Sir’Rhan Felix had 13 and Atagi finished with 10 points, with both players grabbing four rebounds.

Carl Junction also had four players in double figures, with Baker, Derfelt and Kyler Perry all scoring 12 points. Baker had seven rebounds and three assists, while Derfelt had three rebounds and three assists. Perry finished with three assists to go along with one board and a steal. Williams had 11 points, three assists and one rebound.

“We have different guys who can step up and knock down shots,” Pock said of his team’s offensive production. “We want it to be team basketball and a team effort. Offensively, it can come from anyone at any time.”

THIS N’ THAT

William Chrisman’s advantage in the turnover battle led to the Bears outscoring the Bulldogs 24-11 in points off turnovers. William Chrisman also had the advantage in paint scoring, 34-20. Though the Bears shot a better field-goal percentage, 47 percent to 45 percent, the Bulldogs had the clear advantage from the perimeter after knocking down 12-of-26 3-pointers as a team. William Chrisman was 5-of-14 shooting from the perimeter.

UP NEXT

William Chrisman matches up with Nevada at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the third-place game to wrap action in the Kaminsky Classic. 

Carl Junction takes on Clever at 11 a.m. in the fifth-place game of the Kaminsky Classic. 

KAMINSKY CLASSIC: Logan McNeley’s career night leads Nevada past Clever

Posted on by Lucas Davis

Nevada senior Logan McNeley had a shooting night from the perimeter to remember as the Tigers earned a 65-45 win over Clever on the third day of the Kaminsky Classic on Friday.

McNeley was white hot from outside to open the game for Nevada (6-4), cashing in on five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes of game action to push the Tigers to an early 14-point lead. Up 36-27 at halftime, Nevada continued to scorch the nets from beyond the arc in the third, pushing the lead to 20-plus points and pacing the Tigers to the win.

“Just that he did not not shy away and still had confidence after having a tough shooting night before … it really just kind of threw coals to the fire for our guys,” Nevada coach Shaun Gray said of Logan McNeley’s early performance from outside. “It was really good for us. It energized the bench, it energized the whole team. I think that confidence just spread throughout the group.”

McNeley finished the night with eight 3-pointers on 8-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, leading the Tigers with a game and career-high 26 points. He added three rebounds and three assists. Logan Applegate finished with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He closed with four rebounds and four assists.

“All of the attention that Applegate draws, to have a guy go for 22 one night and 26 the next is really big for us,” Gray said of Logan McNeley’s night. “It really proves we are not one dimensional and we can beat you from multiple spots on the floor.”

As a team, Nevada shot 54.2 percent from 3-point land, making 13-of-24 total shots from the perimeter. 

Bryce Gelle led Clever (3-7) with 16 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Kadeon Broome scored 11 points and had five rebounds. Grant Pellham had seven points, six assists and four rebounds to go along with two steals.

GAME NOTES

Nevada jumped out to a 10-2 start in the win, with Logan McNeley knocking down two 3-pointers in the first four minutes. He sank three more triples, with two of the coming in the final minute of the first quarter to give the Tigers a 22-8 lead.

Down 16, Clever went on a 10-0 run midway through the second period to trim the margin to six, 30-24. 

“In the second quarter, I don’t know if it was maybe we were too comfortable and didn’t stay locked in, or maybe fatigue playing in a back-to-back. Whatever it was, we did not communicate on some screens. … A quiet defense is not a good defense. We made a big emphasis at halftime of talking and making sure we are making the call early. We saw those adjustments in the second half and I was proud of our guys for taking that to heart and doing that.”

Nevada pushed the lead back to nine by halftime, and took control of the game for good to close out the third quarter. The Tigers led 47-35 before scoring the final 10 points of the period to build a 60-35 lead with eight minutes of game action left.

“This is a determined, focused group that really has a no-mess-around mentality,” Gray said. “I didn’t really have to tell them what was wrong. They knew and they made adjustments.”

Lane McNeley and Logan Applegate opened the run with back-to-back 3-balls before an offensive rebound and putback score from Ben Hines pushed the lead to 20, 55-35, with 1:40 on the clock. Logan McNeley added a score on the break before knocking down another 3-pointer to close out the quarter and the run, while all but eliminating any chance of a Blue Jays’ comeback.

UP NEXT

Nevada matches up with William Chrisman at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the third-place game to wrap action in the Kaminsky Classic. 

Clever takes on Carl Junction at 11 a.m. in the fifth-place game of the Kaminsky Classic. 

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