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.
