CARTHAGE, Mo. — In a back and forth clash that went down to the wire, Terrance Gibson’s tip-in with six seconds lifted Joplin to a thrilling 46-45 Central Ozark Conference win over Carthage on Tuesday night inside a packed Carthage High School gymnasium.
“After the Kickapoo game, we had to reboot,” Eagles coach Bronson Schaake said. “We talked about just playing hard and living with the results. Tonight they (Carthage) came out in a triangle and two and tried to take the Wrights out of the game, but we had other guys step up. I thought Terrance played big and he was being aggressive. That was a tough game.”
With his team trailing by one, Always Wright drove into the lane and put up a shot off the glass with six seconds left. The ball rolled off the rim, but Gibson tipped it in for the go-ahead hoop.
“Terrance was active, but Always created that by going to the rim strong,” Schaake said. “You can draw up a play all you want, but the guys have to go do it. I trust the Wrights with the ball.”
With just seconds remaining, the Tigers raced up the floor, but the hosts did not get a shot off before time expired.
“That’s the first true gut punch of the season for us,” Tigers coach Nathan Morris said. “They wanted this one for numerous reasons. I thought our guys battled, played extremely hard and did what we asked them to do. We stuck to our game plan. But a couple of rebounds and late breaks didn’t roll our way. That one hurts.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Joplin improved to 14-5 overall and 2-1 in COC.
A junior forward, Gibson led the Eagles with 16 points. A senior guard, Always Wright scored 13 points.
Sophomore guards Quin Renfro and All Wright contributed nine and seven points, respectively.
Carthage is now 15-4 overall and 1-2 in the COC.
Junior guard Clay Kinder scored a game-high 17 points for the Tigers. Joel Pugh, Justin Ray and Max Templeman added eight points apiece.
GAME RECAP
The game was tied at seven when the Tigers closed the first quarter on a 6-2 run for a 13-9 advantage.
There were five lead changes in the second quarter.
Gibson had four hoops in the second period for the Eagles, but the Tigers went ahead 23-22 after two charities from Kinder.
Always Wright scored just before the first half concluded, giving Joplin a 24-23 lead.
“I felt like we let their pressure really affect us early in the game,” Morris said. “I think if we would have finished on the offensive end early in the game that could have been a different outcome. We had three or four great looks in the first quarter that didn’t fall. It’s a different game if we had jumped out to a six or seven point lead.”
After another back and forth frame, Joplin led 34-32 at the end of the third period.
Always Wright scored Joplin’s first seven points of the fourth quarter, but treys from both Pugh and Kinder gave Carthage a 43-41 lead with 2:15 left.
LT Atherton made 1-of-2 free throws and Gibson converted a putback inside to push Joplin in front at 44-43.
Carthage’s Kinder calmly sank two free throws to give the Tigers a 45-44 advantage before Gibson’s late-game heroics proved to be the difference.
Again, the hosts were unable to get up a shot before the buzzer.
“I thought we could push with numbers,” Morris said of the final possession. “They did a good job of funneling us to the sideline. And at 43-41, I thought we had two chances to win the game. A defensive rebound could have sealed the game.”
Schaake noted it was a nice bounce-back win for his squad.
“We talk about February being make or break time,” he said. “Our district is loaded and you have to find ways to win games like that.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Both teams have COC road games on Friday, as Carthage is at Republic and Joplin travels to Nixa.
