CARTHAGE, Mo. — The pace picked up in the final two quarters after a defensive struggle in the first half, with Carthage pulling away from Neosho down the stretch for a 57-47 Central Ozark Conference win on Senior Night on Saturday.
“We did not play very well last night,” Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. “Coming into a Senior Night, which we tried to make really important to our younger kids by letting them know that someday this would be their night. We were down a senior, who was sick, and down another starter, who is at home. It took some of those guys who have not played a ton of varsity minutes a half to get their feet under them.”
SENIOR NIGHT
Carthage honored Silas Templemen, Brandon Gacke and Sam Fuert with Senior Night ceremonies before the game.
GAME ACTION
Neither team held more than a two-possession lead in the first half of play, with the Tigers’ biggest lead at two points and the Wildcats’ at five points.
Neosho scored the final five points of the first quarter on buckets from Dalton Brodie and Isaiah Green to take a 9-4 lead into the second period. After a pair of makes from the charity stripe at the 2:15 mark of the first half, the Wildcats once again held a five-point advantage at 15-10.
Carthage responded with the final seven points of the second quarter to take a 17-15 lead into halftime. Clay Kinder splashed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two before an offensive board for a putback score by Joel Pugh tied the game at 15s with a minute to play. Kinder sank two free throws with no time on the clock following a Neosho foul at the buzzer to give the Tigers the momentum into the locker room.
“That was big,” Morris said of his team’s play to close the first half. “I think some of our kids were kind of questioning things before that. For us to hit that stretch … it gave us all the confidence in the world tolling into the second half.”
“You always have an optimistic outlook, but I knew that as good of defense as we played in the first half, to go into the half losing, that was going to be tough,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “I knew that if we got down, our press wasn’t going to be any good because they have a dynamic point guard.
“We were up 15-10 with two minutes to go, and they went on a 7-0 run. … If we just score once there and don’t let them score once, then we are up. I think it is just a different outlook on the second half.”
The lead traded hands out of the intermission before Carthage played in front for most of the third period. Once again, neither team established more than a two-possession advantage in the period, with the Tigers holding onto a 34-31 cushion after three quarters thanks to an offensive rebound and putback bucket by Max Templemen at the buzzer.
Carthage got a basket from Tyler Willis to start the fourth before Neosho responded with a 3-pointer and score on the drive both by Green, tying the game at 36-36 with 6:27 to play.
The Tigers proceeded to use a 17-4 run over the next five-plus minutes to build an insurmountable 53-40 lead with less than a minute to play. Willis fueled the run with eight points. Fuert added a 3-pointer and a score on the break.
“He is such a good kid and a hard worker,” Morris said of Willis. “Basketball is not natural to him. I told our senior Brandon Gacke that it was extremely unselfish of him to lend some minutes to a kid who came in and just fought with everything he had. Every minute he is on the court, he is learning and growing, which is better for us.”
SCORING LEADERS
Max Templemen had 20 points to lead Carthage, while Willis finished with 12 and Pugh added 11.
Landon Austin led Neosho with 16 points. Green finished with nine points, while Brodie added eight.
UP NEXT
Carthage is at Branson on Tuesday.
Neosho is at Webb City on Tuesday.
