NEOSHO, Mo. — Neosho held a double-digit advantage several times throughout the contest before Willard made a run late to take the lead briefly only to see the Wildcats rebound immediately in the closing minutes to earn their first Central Ozark Conference win in 77-71 fashion on Monday.
The Wildcats improved to 11-5 and are now 1-1 in conference play with the win. With the loss, Willard sits at 9-6, 0-2 COC. The contest was also a district victory for Neosho.
“Every conference win is so hard to come by in the COC,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “That was also a district game, so it was like a double win. … The boys had some resolve. To be up from essentially the second quarter on and then lose the lead and come right back … that shows maturity and the team getting better as the season goes.”
GAME ACTION
After a back-and-forth opening period that saw the Wildcats hold a 14-13 lead, the Tigers took a one-point lead on the first field goal of the second quarter on an inside score from senior Haden Brown with 5:52 on the clock. From there, Neosho scored 12 unanswered points to take a 26-15 advantage with just over three minutes to play in the first half.
Senior K’dyn Waters kicked off the Wildcat run with a three-point play before knocking down a 3-pointer in transition. Junior Isaiah Green added two makes from the foul line before junior Jared Siler scored in transition off a Willard turnover. Junior Carter Fenske closed the run with a baseline floater for an 11-point lead.
Neosho pushed it’s lead to a quarter-high 13 points when Waters buried a 3-ball from the wing before making two charities with 1:50 left in the first half for a 33-20 lead. The Wildcats ultimately took a 33-24 margin into the intermission.
Willard made a run at the lead early in the second half, cutting the deficit to five after junior Cooper Wilken knocked down a 3-pointer and senior Gavin Davis converted at the foul line to trim the score to 36-31 with 4:55 on the clock.
Waters scored the next 12 points for Neosho to give the Wildcats a 49-35 cushion. Waters opened the 12-3 scoring run with a rare four-point play after burying an NBA-range 3-pointer from the wing while drawing contact. He followed with another deep 3-ball from the top of the key, a three-point play and his fourth 3-pointer of the period to end the run.
“He was a man on a mission tonight,” Culp said of Waters’ performance. “When you are hitting 3s like we did tonight, it just makes everything easier, obviously.”
“That four-point play was a big one because you could feel the momentum shifting their way and then he immediately did that. He just kept making big plays all night until the end.”
Willard didn’t flinch, however, as the Tigers closed the third quarter on a 10-2 run to trim the lead back to six, 51-45, to start the final eight minutes of play.
Neosho held a 61-52 advantage with 5:29 left in regulation when Willard scored seven straight points, highlighted by a 3-ball from Wilken, to trim the lead to one possession, 61-59, with 4:10 to play. The Tigers cut the margin to two points twice more before coming all the way back to take their first lead of the game since early in the second quarter on a three-point play from Brown with 1:41 left to give Willard a 69-68 advantage.
The lead changed hands three more times in the closing minutes, with Brock Franklin giving Neosho the advantage for the final time on a corner 3-pointer with less than a minute to play for 73-71 lead. Neosho ultimately scored the final seven points of the game to close out the win after Willard initially took the lead late.
“We didn’t lose that lead for very long,” Culp said. “When we called the timeout, as a coaching staff, we just told them, ‘Guys, if we are going to let them dribble down there and score every time, it is going to be tough to win. If you just get a couple of stops, we will win the game.’ They took that to heart, I guess, because we scored like four or five in a row. … It was an exciting fourth quarter.”
SCORING LEADERS
Waters led Neosho with a game-high 30 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Junior Kael Smith finished with 15 points, while Fenske added 11. Green finished with 10 points to give the Wildcats four players in double-figure scoring.
Davis led Willard with 17 points, while Wilken and Brown each finished with 14. Brett Hall finished with 10 points to also give the Tigers four players in double figures.
UP NEXT
Neosho travels to Anderson to take on McDonald County on Tuesday.
