CARTHAGE, Mo. — Webb City never got on track in the third-place game of the 76th Carthage Invitational.
As a result, the Cardinals suffered a second straight disappointing setback.
Riding a strong first half, Raymore-Peculiar defeated Webb City 59-28 on Saturday inside the Carthage High School gymnasium.
The Panthers hit seven 3-pointers in the opening half and led 36-15 at halftime. The Cardinals were held to single digits in three of the four quarters in their tourney finale.
“The last two games exposed a lot of things we have to improve upon offensively,” Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. “Defensively, we have to continue to improve on how we’re rotating and how we’re communicating off the ball.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys out there playing big minutes and we had minimal varsity experience coming back, so it’s been an adjustment for them,” added Horn, who recorded win No. 100 at Webb City on Thursday when the Cardinals beat Leavenworth. “We have capable players, but we have to improve how we handle the swings of the game and how to handle it when we’re not making shots and when things aren’t going our way. I know we’ll get better at those things.”
Senior forward Alex Martin scored 12 points to lead Webb City (2-2). He was the lone Cardinal to score more than four points.
Ashton Jermain scored 14 points to lead the Panthers, while Cannon Northcraft added 12.
Raymore-Peculiar (2-2) hit 10 treys in the game, while Webb City made just one, a 3 from Joe Adams.
In the first-ever meeting between the schools in boys basketball, Ray-Pec limited Webb City to one field goal in the first quarter, and the Panthers led 12-5.
Martin’s layup cut Webb City’s deficit to five early in the second period, but Raymore-Peculiar used a 12-1 run to take a 24-8 advantage.
During the surge, the Panthers hit a trio of 3-pointers while the Cardinals struggled offensively.
By the break, Ray-Pec’s lead was 36-15.
The Cardinals were limited to five field goals in the first half, all from inside the arc.
The third quarter was even, 9-9, but Webb City’s deficit was 45-24 entering the fourth period.
The Panthers outscored the Cardinals 14-4 in the final frame.
The Cardinals went 1-2 at the invite, beating Leavenworth and falling to Carthage and Ray-Pec.
Webb City has three home games ahead this week, as the Cardinals host Rogers Heritage on Tuesday, Springfield Catholic on Thursday and Monett next Saturday at the 4-States Challenge.
NEVADA 55, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 53
Nevada picked up its first win of the season by beating Southside 55-53 in the tourney’s seventh-place game.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Tigers coach Shaun Gray said. “It’s nice to get that first win. Our kids have been working their tails off and they’re a great group, so it feels good that they were able to get into the win column.”
Senior forward Drew Beachler scored a career-high 22 points for the Tigers, while senior guard Cade Beshore added 12.
Alex Roper led Southside with 17 points.
Nevada led 16-12 at the end of the first quarter, 28-20 at halftime and 44-33 by the end of the third quarter.
“We defended well and we got some stops and I thought that fueled us on the offensive end,” Gray said of building a nice lead. “That’s something we’ve been working on. We got some steals for layups and we hit a couple of 3-pointers that were key for us.”
Down by as much as 12 in the second half, Southside made a run late in the game, pulling within two with just under a second to play. The Tigers were able to inbound the ball and run out the clock.
“That’s the first time this year we’ve been the team trying to hold on to a lead at the end,” Gray noted. “We’ve been on the other side of it, so it was a good lesson for us.”
Nevada (1-5) will be among the teams competing at the Mustang Classic next week at McDonald County.
In other action, Leavenworth topped RUSH 59-52 in the fifth-place game.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
All Wright, Joplin
Quin Renfro, Joplin
Max Templeman, Carthage
Justin Ray, Carthage
Ashton Jermain, Raymore-Peculiar
Elijah Watts, Raymore-Peculiar
Barron Duda, Webb City
Alex Martin, Webb City
Jeremiah Lewis, Leavenworth
Joe Graves, RUSH
