NEVADA, Mo. — Despite a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, Lane McNeley and the Nevada Tigers never quit believing.
Led by its talented backcourt trio, and inspired by a raucous home crowd, Nevada overcame a 12-point deficit in the final frame with a furious fourth quarter rally to knock off Rogersville 51-46 on Tuesday night in a sectional contest of the Missouri Class 5 state basketball tournament inside a packed Wynn Gymnasium.
The Wildcats held a 40-28 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“Going into the fourth quarter, we just said, ‘This is not how we’re going out,'” McNeley said. “One of our mottos was ‘Never quit.’ That was our mindset the whole fourth quarter. We just had to give it everything we’ve got.”
The hosts did just that. The Tigers turned things around in a hurry, ending the game on a 23-6 surge.
“We knew we had to speed the game up,” Nevada coach Shaun Gray said. “We went to an extended zone. Luckily, some guys made some huge plays. We got some blocks at the rim by Ben Hines, some steals and then guys just stepped up and hit shots.
“When we were down 10, the feeling was we just needed some breaks,” Gray added. “We needed a couple turnovers and we needed a couple shots to fall. With this crowd in this atmosphere, if you can get the momentum shifted to a two-score game, then all of a sudden they hear the footsteps coming. I can’t say enough about the atmosphere here. We were able to get more and more momentum and keep it going. Then our guys started to have that belief.”
Winners of 15 straight games, Nevada (22-5) travels to Bolivar (14-12) on Friday for a quarterfinal clash. It’s Nevada’s first appearance in the quarterfinals since 1991, Gray said.
“It’s huge for our program,” Gray said. “It had been 23 years since we’d won a district championship. I think 1991 was the last time we’ve advanced this far. It was a long time coming. And this group of seniors…I can’t say enough about them. They believe in each other.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Nevada’s senior guards made sure their careers didn’t end on Tuesday. The trio combined to score 46 points and they hit 11 3-pointers.
Lane McNeley scored 20 points and made five 3-pointers. He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Fellow senior Logan Applegate scored 17 points and hit three treys, while classmate Logan McNeley added nine points on three 3-pointers.
Ranked fifth in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Rogersville finishes the season with a record of 20-6.
Western Illinois recruit Jonathan Dunn scored 15 points to lead the Wildcats, while Max Goff added 11 and Kanon Gipson had nine. All three are seniors.
GAME RECAP
Early treys from Lane McNeley, Applegate and Logan McNeley gave the Tigers a 10-5 cushion.
The Wildcats answered with 3-pointers from Dunn and Goff, but Applegate’s NBA-range trey gave the Tigers a 13-11 lead at the end of the entertaining first period. The two teams combined to hit seven 3-pointers in the opening frame.
The Wildcats owned the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 11-1 to take a 22-14 lead into halftime. Nevada’s lone point of the second period came on Lane McNeley’s free throw. In the quarter, the Tigers had empty possession after empty possession.
A back-and-forth third quarter ended with Rogersville up 38-28.
Gipson’s hoop at the start of the fourth quarter stretched his team’s lead to 40-28.
Logan McNeley hit two 3-pointers early in the final frame, but the Wildcats responded with four straight points.
That’s when things suddenly changed.
Down 10 with 5:30 left, the Tigers put up 13 unanswered points in a stunning comeback.
During the spurt, Lane McNeley hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the Wildcats turned the ball over twice, Applegate contributed a putback and then Lane McNeley converted a steal into an easy layup, tying the game at 44 with 1:30 to play. Nevada senior forward Ben Hines also had two key blocked shots during the game-changing run.
After a Rogersville turnover, Lane McNeley hit a key corner trey to give the hosts a three-point lead with a minute to go.
“Throughout the game, they did as good a job as anybody we’ve played at taking Logan Applegate away,” Gray said. “We finally said in the fourth quarter, ‘Let’s get the ball in the high post to (Case) Sanderson or Hines and let’s see if they can go make a play.’ What happened is guys lost track of Logan, Lane and Applegate when the ball went to the middle. Guys knocked down big-time shots.”
Rogersville’s 6-foot-7 Dunn scored inside to trim his team’s deficit to 47-46 with 53 seconds showing on the clock.
The Tigers then ran the clock by passing the ball around the perimeter. The Wildcats finally fouled with 21 seconds remaining.
Again, the Tigers were able to run more clock and the Wildcats once again fouled, sending Applegate to the charity stripe with 11 seconds left. Applegate calmly sank both shots.
Down three, Rogersville took a timeout and then had eight seconds to work with. But the Wildcats didn’t get a shot attempt up, as the visitors committed a costly turnover with 2.3 seconds showing on the scoreboard.
After a foul, Applegate swished two free throws with 1.5 seconds left for the final margin.
Once the final horn sounded, and with a memorable comeback victory secured, the Tigers were swarmed by their school’s large student section.
Lane McNeley noted he’ll likely never forget the final home game of his prep career.
“Nevada’s great,” he said. “They always support every sport. The love is unconditional. I love how much they support us. It was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played in front of. This is special.”
