Day: February 24, 2021

CARTHAGE, Mo.  — Webb City’s experience showed against a young Carthage squad.

The senior-laden Cardinals built a 22-point lead by late in the third period and then withstood Carthage’s fourth-quarter rally to earn a 62-46 win over the rival Tigers on Tuesday night in Central Ozark Conference boys basketball action. 

Webb City led 45-23 with 1:44 remaining in the third period, but the Tigers didn’t quit.  

Carthage used a 17-2 surge to pull within seven with just over five minutes to play. But the hosts would get no closer, as the upperclassmen-led Cardinals didn’t get rattled. Instead they scored eight of the next 10 points to put the game away for good.

“It was good senior leadership,” Webb City coach Jason Horn said. “We lost our composure for a little bit, but we quickly regained it. We had a quick start to the game, a quick start to the third quarter and then we rode some adversity. I was pleased that we executed in the halfcourt down the stretch.”

Carthage coach Nathan Morris was proud his team didn’t quit when it got down big. 

“Our youth and inexperience showed like it has for most of the season,” Morris said. “But our grit and toughness is really good. Like I’ve said all season, we’ve had peaks and valleys. And you can’t have that in COC varsity basketball. We got punched in the mouth early and it took us some time to wake up. We finally woke up. But you can’t wait until the third quarter to punch back.” 

Despite one stretch of the second half, the Cardinals were solid throughout the rivalry matchup. 

“I thought we were really good defensively,” Horn said. “We didn’t have some of the silly fouls we had picked up in our previous games. We were in passing lanes and we put good pressure on the basketball. We rebounded the ball well. And that led to some easy runouts for us.”

NAMES & NUMBERS

Webb City improved to 16-8 and 4-4 in COC play. 

Senior guard Nickhai Howard led the Cardinals with 13 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Luke Brumit contributed 10 points, while senior guard Mekhi Garrard had nine before fouling out. 

Senior Trenton Hayes and sophomore Alex Martin chipped in eight points apiece for the Cardinals, who made 24-of-59 field goal attempts (41 percent). 

Sophomore guard Joel Pugh led the Tigers with 15 points, while classmate Max Templeman added 13 points and three assists. Fellow sophomore Tyler Willis contributed nine points and six rebounds. 

The Tigers, who played without senior Silas Templeman, made 13-of-43 shot attempts (30 percent). 

Carthage fell to 7-18 and 1-8 in conference action.

“Hopefully all this experience pays off for the younger guys,” Morris said. “But I hate it for our senior class. We played with just one senior tonight in a limited role. We’ve got one senior banged up and another out with an illness.”

GAME RECAP

The Cardinals scored the first seven points of the game before Carthage’s Pugh buried a pair of 3-pointers.

Webb City finished the first quarter on a 9-3 run, with Martin converting two buckets inside and Howard contributing five points. With that, the visitors held a 16-6 lead at the end of the first frame.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 24-6 after Howard and Kaden Turner hit 3-pointers and Garrard made a layup.

But Carthage finished the first half on a 9-4 run, with Pugh accounting for five of the nine points. By the break, Webb City’s lead was 28-15.

The Cardinals pulled away. Turner’s basket gave Webb City a 45-23 lead. 

Just when it looked like the game was going to be a blowout, the Tigers got going. Carthage finished the third period on a 10-0 burst and Webb City’s lead was 45-33 heading into the final frame.

Four straight free throws from Carthage freshman Justin Ray trimmed Webb City’s lead to seven, but the Cardinals rattled off eight of the next 10 points to go up 55-42. Brumit, Hayes, Turner and Cohl Vaden all scored during the surge.

Horn gave the Tigers credit.

“Carthage has a nice team,” Horn said. “They’ve got three really nice guards. They make it hard on you because you have to guard them on the 3-point line. They had guys make plays. They played hard.” 

Webb City finished the game on a 15-6 run. 

“Just because we like to play fast doesn’t mean we can’t grind it out in the halfcourt at the end of the game,” Horn said. “We have skilled guys who can execute.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Fourth-seeded Carthage travels to top-seeded Kickapoo at 7 on March 2 in the semifinals of the Class 6 District 12 tournament. 

“They are an extremely talented team,” Morris said of the Chiefs. “It’s a good challenge for our kids. We just need to come out and compete. If we do that, who knows? Crazier things have happened.”

Webb City hosts Neosho on Thursday night in the regular season finale. 

The top-seeded Cardinals host fourth-seeded Carl Junction at 7 on March 2 in the semifinals of the Class 5 District 12 tournament. 

CARTHAGE, Mo.  — Firing on all cylinders from the perimeter and in the paint, the Carthage Tigers started the second half on a 27-10 run to build an insurmountable lead on their way to a 55-38 win over Webb City on Tuesday night in Central Ozark Conference girls basketball action. 

Clinging to a 26-23 lead at halftime, Carthage pulled away for good with a 21-9 third period. Overall, the Tigers outscored the Cardinals 29-15 in the second half.

“At halftime, our big, fancy adjustment was to simply do what we do, but do it better,” Carthage coach Scott Moore said. “We needed to finish better. A lot of the shots we got in the first half were good shots, but they were just off a little. We just had to stay composed, get those same shots and knock them down. That’s what happened.” 

Moore noted his team’s inside-outside attack was key to the victory. The Tigers hit seven 3-pointers and also took advantage of their height inside to get hoops at point-blank range. 

“We definitely had the height advantage, so our goal was to work inside-out,” Moore said. “We wanted to soften them up inside and then kick it out to shooters. When they packed it in, our shooters were open with our side-to-side action.”

The Tigers hiked their record to 14-10 and finished 4-5 in the COC. 

“It was a nice way to finish up the conference season for us,” Moore said. “We improved by two games in the conference this year. That means a lot to us. We want to keep climbing up the conference ranks.” 

For the Cardinals, it was a tale of two halves. 

“I thought we defended pretty well in the first half,” Webb City coach Lance Robbins said. “Offensively, I thought we moved the ball pretty well. In the second half, we lost their shooters a few times and they hit some 3s. They gained confidence. And offensively, we didn’t move the ball as well in the second half.

“If we want to be a successful team, we have to move the ball better offensively and we have to know our assignments defensively,” Robbins added. 

NAMES & NUMBERS

Senior post players Brinna Ream and Hailey Fullerton combined to score 31 points for the Tigers. 

The 5-foot-10 Ream compiled 16 points, while the 6-1 Fullerton added 15 points and nine boards. Ream made 7-of-12 shots, while Fullerton converted 6-of-12 field goal attempts.

Kianna Yates added nine points, while 6-1 Sophie Shannon pulled down nine rebounds. Carthage shot 46 percent (21-of-46) from the field.

Webb City fell to 8-14 and finished 3-6 in conference play.

Senior guard Jaydee Duda led Webb City with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-19 shooting. 

Sophomore Kate Brownfield added 11 points and eight rebounds, making 9-of-12 free throws along the way. The Cardinals shot 26 percent (12-of-47).

GAME RECAP

Playing at home for the final time this season, Carthage jumped out to a 14-7 lead after Ream scored in the lane and both Yates and Presley Probert hit 3-pointers.

Duda scored eight points in the opening frame for the Cardinals, but the Tigers held a 16-11 advantage heading into the second quarter. 

Webb City used an 8-2 spurt in the second quarter, capped by Duda’s hoop in transition and Ripley Shanks’ putback, to take a 19-18 lead.

The Tigers didn’t trail for long, as the hosts answered back with an 8-1 surge, with Fullerton scoring a pair of hoops in the paint and Ream and Yates adding buckets of their own. 

Duda’s old-fashioned 3-point play trimmed Carthage’s halftime advantage to 26-23.

The Tigers got hot from the perimeter in the third quarter, as Fullerton buried three 3-pointers and Katie Crowe and Yates both hit treys of their own, extending Carthage’s lead to 47-32 entering the fourth period.

“Hailey got hot in the second half,” Moore noted. “That’s always a big momentum swing for our team. We ride and die with her hitting 3s at times. Tonight, we got to ride with that in the second half.” 

Yates’ free throw gave the Tigers a 20-point advantage with five minutes remaining.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Carthage ends the regular season at Lamar on Wednesday. 

The third-seeded Tigers travel to second-seeded Republic on March 1 in the Class 6 District 12 tournament. 

“Our kids are excited,” Moore said. “We played pretty well against them for about three quarters. Now we need to put a full four quarters together.” 

Webb City concludes the regular season at 6 on Thursday with a home game against East Newton. 

The third-seeded Cardinals play at second-seeded Nevada on March 1 in the Class 5 District 12 tournament.