CARTHAGE, Mo. — Clinging to a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the highly-motivated Webb City boys basketball team was the squad that made more winning plays down the stretch.
Webb City rode a strong finish to a hard-fought 58-50 victory over longtime rival Carthage on Tuesday night in front of a large crowd inside the Carthage High School gymnasium.
“Our kids did a great job of executing late in the game,” Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. “We saw a lot of growth tonight from a young team. If you go back and look at last year’s game against Carthage, none of these guys were on the floor. They’re getting their first taste of the COC now. It was just a great job by our guys all the way around.”
After leading by as much as 10, the Cardinals saw their advantage trimmed down to one with just over six minutes to play. But Webb City was the team that got it done when crunch time arrived, as the Cardinals closed the game on a 13-6 burst to knock off the Tigers.
“Our guys responded late in the game,” Horn said. “They weren’t taking ‘my turn’ shots. They were valuing the ball and cutting. We did a good job of playing inside-out. I can’t say enough about how we rebounded, especially in key spots.”
The Cardinals entered this one with plenty of extra motivation, as Carthage blew out Webb City 70-48 in December at the Carthage Invitational.
“Our kids were very motivated,” Horn said. “You tip your hat to Carthage the first time we played them here. They executed at a high level and they were definitely the better team that night. Our guys just had two great days of preparation. They were very focused in practice. They knew their assignments defensively, and we put in a few new wrinkles offensively.”
The Tigers had their chances on their home floor, but the hosts simply had too many empty possessions in the fourth quarter. Carthage did not make a field goal in the final four minutes of the contest.
“We had a lot of careless turnovers and we failed to execute late in the game,” Tigers coach Nathan Morris said. “Give Webb City credit. They got the ball where they wanted it and they executed. Unfortunately, we looked like a team that hasn’t been in the gym for three days.”
NAMES & NUMBERS
Webb City hiked its record to 15-4 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
Webb City had three players score in double figures. Sophomore guard Holton Keith scored 18 points, making all seven of his field goal attempts.
Junior guard Barron Duda added 16 points and senior forward Alex Martin had 12 points before fouling out.
Also for the Cardinals, Eli Pace had eight rebounds and five points, while Omari Jackson had five steals to go with four points.
The Cardinals made 22-of-48 field goal attempts (46 percent) but went just 4-for-14 on 3-pointers.
Carthage slipped to 11-8 and 1-2 in the COC.
Carthage shot 35 percent for the game (14-of-40), including 5-for-21 from long distance.
Senior guard Max Templeman scored 26 points, making 6-of-13 field goal attempts and all 13 of his free throws. The 5-9 Templeman also led the Tigers in rebounds with eight.
Junior guard Justin Ray added 10 points for the Tigers, while senior forward Clay Kinder had six.
The Tigers turned the ball over 18 times to the Cardinals’ 11.
GAME RECAP
On the last night of January, the Cardinals held an 18-12 lead at the end of the back and forth first quarter.
After hoops from Duda and Martin, Webb City took a 10-point lead early in the second quarter at 22-12.
But the Tigers responded with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 24, with Templeman scoring 10 of the 12 points during the surge.
Webb City answered with five of the final seven points of the first half for a 29-26 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, the Cardinals led by eight after a trey from Keith and a basket inside by Duda.
However, the Tigers scored five straight to end the period, a 3-pointer from Kinder and a pair of free throws from Templeman. That made it 45-42 in favor of the Cardinals heading into the fourth quarter.
After two hoops from Keith, the Cardinals were up 51-46 in the final frame.
With three minutes left, Webb City’s Jackson converted a steal into a layup, giving the visitors a needed boost.
Carthage managed just four free throws in the final four minutes of the game.
The Tigers were plagued by empty possessions and several turnovers late in the game that were too much to overcome.
Keith scored two hoops in transition and made a free throw for an eight-point cushion, all but sealing the win.
“Our kids are tough and they play hard,” Morris said. “We made some plays to get back into the game, but when it truly mattered, we didn’t execute very well. Webb City made winning plays off of our turnovers.”
“Carthage has a number of kids who can make shots and that makes it difficult on you,” Horn said. “Templeman is a really good player…Ray’s a good player, Kinder’s a good player. Those guys can make shots, so we knew it wouldn’t be easy tonight.
“Omari came up huge on defense, I think he had three steals late and they were huge,” Horn added. “I have to give credit to Holton Keith. He was running the floor well and finishing plays.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Both squads have conference road games on Friday, as Webb City is at Ozark and Carthage is at Republic.
FULL STATS: Webb City HS (webbcitycardinals.com)
