WEBB CITY, Mo. — After watching a double-digit lead vanish in the second half in a double-overtime win over Springfield Central on Tuesday, Carthage wasn’t about to allow history to repeat itself in a 51-44 win over Rogers (Arkansas) on Saturday in the 4-States Challenge hosted by Webb City.
The Tigers improved to 5-1 after a strong surge to the first half led to a double-digit advantage in the second half. The Mounties made a run at the lead late, but Carthage staved off the comeback attempt to earn its second win of the week.
“That shows that the maturity day by day is there,” Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. “I told the guys that for us to have briefly touched on our 2-3 zone (on defense) and then have them sit in it at the end of the first half and the entire second half is huge for this group. It just shows how much they wanted to battle, being able to make some winning plays at the end to finish that out.”
To say the first half between the Tigers (5-1) and Mounties was a seesaw battle would be an understatement. There were 10 lead changes and two ties in the first half, but Carthage rallied to close the first half on a 9-0 run over the final three minutes to take a 29-22 lead into the intermission.
“We finally started getting downhill,” Morris said of his team’s run to close the half. “They are an extremely aggressive half-court team. … They fight every passing lane and they fight through screens. It took us a little bit to trust ourselves and get downhill. When Max started attacking and started screening bodies, I think that was the difference in the first half.”
Max Templeman opened the surge with a 3-pointer before Joel Pugh converted the and-1 free throw for a three-point play after pulling down an offensive rebound and scoring on the putback. Pugh closed the run with a 3-ball in the corner off the assist from Tyler Willis.
Carthage pushed its lead to double digits for the first time in the second half with Pugh splashed home a perimeter shot from the wing to make the score 36-26 with 6:02 on the clock. The Tigers ultimately took a 39-31 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Mounties made a run at the lead twice in the final eight minutes, but were never able to get closer than two possessions before the Tigers would respond.
Will Liddell knocked down two free throws to cap a 6-0 run by Rogers to cut the lead to 41-37 with six minutes left before Carthage’s Clay Kinder scored inside on the inbounds and drilled a corner 3-pointer on the next trip to push the lead back to nine, 46-37, with five minutes left.
“Clay is getting more comfortable every game,” Morris said. “This is very similar to Clay on JV last year. It took him a while but once he started to feel good, he got rolling. That is something you can say of Clay, he is never scared of the moment. He made a huge corner 3 when we were reeling just a little bit.”
Rex Krout brought the Mounties to wishing four again after he connected from the perimeter before scoring off the drive to cut the lead to 46-42 with 2:50 on the clock.
One again, the Tigers responded. Kinder knocked down two free throws before Liddell found room on the drive to make the score 48-44. The Tigers sank three of four free throws inside the final minute to seal the win.
SCORING LEADERS
The Tigers finished with three players in double figures, as Templeman and Pugh led Carthage with 14 points each. Templeman had 10 in the first half, while Pugh knocked down three 3-pointers to lead the perimeter scoring. Kinder added 12 points in the win, seven coming in the fourth quarter.
Krout led all scorers with 18 points, 12 coming in the second half. Liddell had 11 points for Rogers.
UP NEXT
Carthage takes part in the Hy-Vee Holiday Shootout from Dec. 20-22.
