WEBB CITY, Mo. — Parkview took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter before using a late scoring run to push the cushion to double digits by the final horn in a 60-50 win over Carthage on Saturday inside the Cardinal Dome during the 4-States Challenge hosted by Webb City High School.
“Their length and athleticism bothered us,” Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. “But, we’ve said this for six games and we will say them for 20-plus more, we’re going to be undersized every night. So, that can’t be the excuse. We battled their bigs for most of the night. In the most-important moments, we didn’t rebound and they pulled huge offensive rebounds and finished. I feel like we weren’t communicating well and they were ultra communicative the entire game. Those fine details play a huge part in games like that.”
With the loss, the Tigers fall to 3-3 on the season. Carthage is in action next against Hoover (Iowa) in the Hy-Vee Shootout (Dec. 21-22) on Wednesday. The Tigers take on Fort Osage on Thursday.
Carthage trailed 43-42 entering the fourth quarter with the Vikings pushing the lead to six, 60-54, after junior Anthony Nunda sank a 3-pointer and sophomore Dessiah Green made a pair of free throws at the five-minute mark.
The Tigers got a pair of free throws from senior G Max Templeman and two more from sophomore G Trent Yates after a steal to cut the deficit to 50-48.
Parkview closed the final three-plus minutes on a 10-2 run to seal the win. Sophomore Elias Govan grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback bucket before Green scored on a baseline drive to make the score 54-48 with 2:52 to play. Green earned a steal, with Govan cleaning up the ensuing transition basket with a putback. Two free throws from Carthage senior G Britt Coy cut the lead to 56-50 with 2:23 to play, but the Vikings closed the game with an alley-oop layup and a transition score from Govan.
“It just comes down to those three or four possessions in the halfcourt offense where we failed to execute tonight or make the big play,” Morris said. “On the flip side, they made big plays tonight. … We started mixing in zone and man to get them sped up and change what they were doing. Credit to (Parkview), they made the right plays. Our kids struggled a little bit (late).”
Parkview had four players finish in double figures, with Green’s 17 points leading the way. Junior TJ Hill finished with 14 points, while Govan had 13 and Nunda 10.
Templeman led Carthage with 15 points, while Coy was right behind with 13. Senior swingman Clay Kinder had 11 points in the loss.
