It was a tale of two halves on Saturday in the seventh-place game of the Kaminsky Classic between the Neosho Wildcats and the Carl Junction Bulldogs at Kaminsky Gymnasium.
Carl Junction shot 11-23 (47.8 percent) while Neosho shot 5-21 (23.8 percent) from the floor during a first half that produced a 30-13 halftime lead for the Bulldogs.
After halftime, though, Neosho shot 12-22 (54.5 percent) while Carl Junction dipped to 4-16 (25 percent) from the floor and the Wildcats turned a 17-point halftime deficit into a 44-38 victory with a 31-8 advantage in the second half.
Neosho only led for 2 minutes and 18 seconds on Saturday, but they proved to be the 2:18 that mattered the most, specifically the final 1:54.
“Like I told the guys, it was more like 31-6 … they scored late in the game when we were just trying to stall time,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “At halftime, we challenged them. ‘Listen, we’re not making any shots, but the fact that we gave up 30 points is also very bad. If we would have just dug in and played good defense, we honestly thought it should have been tied or maybe they led by a little bit. We’re not going to win the game by doing it just once. We just have to continue to get stops and slowly get back into it.’ That’s exactly what happened.”
The Wildcats ratcheted up the defensive pressure on Carl Junction after halftime and accumulated 19 of their 22 points off turnovers in the final 16 minutes.
Carl Junction also took and made seven fewer shots, went 0-4 from 3-point range, and had no free-throw attempts in the second half.
“It almost forced us to play good defense,” Culp said. “If we weren’t going to be up in passing lanes or if we weren’t going to get steals or if we weren’t going to be diving on the floor, it didn’t matter if we got a bunch of stops in a row because the time would just go away. We had to get steals, and we did that. Isaiah Green had a good spurt there which helped us … everybody played well.”
Senior guard Green continued to be the definition of a stat-sheet stuffer and led Neosho with 14 points, seven assists and seven steals, and he also finished with four rebounds. His steal and slam dunk put an exclamation point on Neosho’s turnaround—a 41-36 lead with 41 seconds remaining in regulation.
Carter Baslee added 11 points and seven rebounds, while fellow senior Kael Smith finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots, and three steals.
Neosho seniors Brock Franklin, Michael Day, and Carter Fenske each hit a trifecta for their three points.
Franklin’s three gave the Wildcats a 38-36 lead with 1:54 remaining, their first lead since Green opened the game’s scoring with a layup.
“We had three 3s in the fourth and those were huge,” Culp said. “You’re going to have to hit outside shots to beat teams. That’s just the way basketball is now. It was good to hit a few (outside shots), probably still missed too many, but we had to have those, and it was nice to see them go through.”
Neosho has struggled at times shooting the ball in recent games, including the first half Saturday against Carl Junction.
The Wildcats improved to 10-4 overall and they avoided heading into Central Ozark Conference play on a three-game losing streak.
“The road doesn’t get any easier, that’s for sure,” Culp said. “Webb City, who’s playing in the championship game tonight, we’ve got them on Tuesday and Willard, who just beat Bolivar last night, on Thursday. Right after that, we’ve got Mac (McDonald County), who’s always a big game, and then we play Forsyth, who’s ranked ninth in Class 4.
“Just to show ourselves how good we could be and how if we’re down that we shouldn’t give in and anything can happen, it was good to see.”
Ayden Bard led Carl Junction with 12 points and seven rebounds, Cooper Vediz added 10 points and three rebounds, and Wyatt McAfee totaled six points and seven rebounds.
Carl Junction dropped to 5-8 overall and the Bulldogs open COC play at home Tuesday against a Republic squad currently 12-1 overall, ranked ninth in Class 6 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, and on an 11-game winning streak since an early-season loss against Springdale, Ark.
Conference rivals Neosho and Carl Junction meet again Feb. 14 in Carl Junction.
