CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers scored the game’s first 10 points and never looked back during a 64-39 win at home on Thursday against the McDonald County Mustangs.
Carthage especially heated up in the first quarter and knocked down five 3-point shots on the way to a 26-13 lead after one.
The Tigers continued their hot shooting from their last game of 2022 in their first game of a new calendar year with 10 3-point goals overall and three players in double figures.
The Mustangs geared their defense around slowing down Carthage junior Justin Ray and senior Max Templeman, who combined for 52 points during Carthage’s 72-46 win over Hazelwood West their last time out in the U.S. Bank Holiday Tournament in Rolla.
Ray tied a school record with eight 3-point baskets and finished with 29 points.
Carthage seniors Clay Kinder and Britt Coy took advantage of their opportunities Thursday and finished with 36 points between them, including a combined 23 points in the first quarter.
Kinder scored a game-high 22 points and Coy finished with 14.
“Coach (Brandon) Joines decided to go triangle-and-2 and take away Max and Justin,” Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. “I told our guys going in that I thought that would be the case, and this is the night for Britt and Clay to really set the tone for the night. They did.
“Britt and Clay, we’ve been waiting for them to have one of their breakout games. Those two come along, with our other two scorers, we could be a scary team.”
Templeman and Ray finished with 22 points Thursday, Templeman 15 and Ray seven.
“Max and Justin, they’re good guards in this league (Central Ozark Conference) for quite a while, so teams want to take that away,” Morris said. “I told our guys that we have five guys on the court that can score at all times and that makes it really tough for opposing teams. We’ve been waiting for all this to come together, had a tough five-game stretch last month, and now we’re on this nice little winning streak. We want to keep it going.”
Trent Yates added four points and Ben Nicholas and Taylor Stevens-Diggs rounded out the scoring with a made free throw each.
Carthage improved to 6-5 overall and the Tigers head into their home game Friday night against East Newton with a three-game winning streak.
“We played on the road since our home tournament,” Morris said, referring to Carthage’s last game at home on Dec. 10 against Joplin. “Now, we’ve got four straight at home to start the new year.”
East Newton enters Friday with a 5-8 overall record.
“Coach (Kyle) Fields will have those guys ready to go,” Morris said. “He coaches those kids to play so hard. We’ve got to take care of that first. We don’t want any bumps in the road. We just want to keep this rolling. Guys are having fun with each other. We’re begging them to enjoy this, talk to each other, and we want to ride this winning streak for a while.”
Carthage opens conference play Tuesday at home against Joplin — Joplin prevailed 60-54 in the earlier contest in the championship game of the 76th annual Carthage Invitational.
On Thursday night, meanwhile for McDonald County, Spencer Woods led the way with 10 points, Destyn Dowd added eight, Cross Dowd and Toby Moore each had six, Jaxson Harrell scored five in the running clock fourth, and Josh Pacheco and Dalton McClain each had two.
The Mustangs dropped to 6-9 overall and finished their week 0-3 against COC opponents Carl Junction (52-42 at home Monday), Webb City (55-49 at home Tuesday), and Carthage.
McDonald County returns home Tuesday against Providence Academy, a private school located in Rogers, Ark.
