NEOSHO, Mo. — A stout defensive effort to close the first half and the second half propelled Neosho to a 55-41 opening-round win over Lamar in the Monday finale of the 66th annual Neosho Holiday Classic.
“I think we had a great second and fourth quarter,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “I think we got the lead to 10 or more in both of those quarters. … I don’t think our defense looked as good in the fourth quarter because we kept turning the ball over and we couldn’t get our defense set. Once we got set and decided to guard, we did OK.”
After Lamar took a 12-11 lead into the second quarter, Neosho limited the Tigers to two field goals in the second period. The Wildcats went on to outscore Lamar 15-4 to head into the intermission with a 26-16 lead. Landon Austin led Neosho with six points in the quarter.
Lamar responded out of the break with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 28-28 near the five-minute mark. The Tigers built a 37-33 advantage off back-to-back 3-pointers from Conner Shoff before the Wildcats closed the quarter with an inside score from Isaiah Green and a driving score from Chase Flynn to tie the game at 37s with one quarter to play.
Like it did in the first half, the defensive effort based out of the 3-2 zone showed up in a big way to close out the second half and the win for Neosho, limiting the Tigers to just one field goal in the final eight minutes.
“Sometimes you think you need to play man (to prevent 3-point shots), but they were really good at getting in the lane for easy kickouts,” Culp said. “We figured we would go zone and make them use east-west passes. … That kind of got us back in the game and going where we need to go.”
“It’s important for us,” Culp said of his team’s ability on defense. “I told them if we could string four quarters together, we could keep a team under 30 one time. It’s hard to do that for four quarters consistently, but that is how we are going to win. … It is our calling card and it showed up today.”
Neosho opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to build a 44-37 advantage with less than five minutes to play. Austin, Green and Flynn were responsible for the buckets. After an inside score from Lamar’s Mason Gastel, the Wildcats answered with four straight baskets to go up 55-41 on the way to clinching the win. Austin had four points, while Flynn and Dalton Brodie also added scores.
STATS
Flynn led Neosho with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Landon closed with 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Brodie added eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Green had seven points and six boards.
Gastel led Lamar with 15 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Shoff scored 13 and had four rebounds with two steals.
UP NEXT
Neosho takes on Hillcrest at 8 on Tuesday, while Lamar and Monett open Day 2 of the Neosho Holiday Classic at 5.
HILLCREST 71, MCDONALD COUNTY 46
Hillcrest finished with four players in double figures, closing each half with authority to earn the win against McDonald County to open the 2020 Neosho Holiday Classic.
Hillcrest outscored McDonald County 15-11 after the first quarter before pushing the lead to 35-19 by the intermission. Hillcrest outscored McDonald County 23-14 down the stretch to cruise to victory.
Crishawn Haggard led Hillcrest with 28 points, including 12 free throws. He added four assists, two rebounds and three steals. Cole Griesemer finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double. He added three assists, three blocks and two steals. AJ Collins scored 11 points, while Devin Oliver finished with 10 points and a team-high four steals.
Pierce Harmon led McDonald County with 16 points, while Teddy Reedybacon had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Hillcrest takes on Neosho at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, while McDonald County squares off against East Newton at 6:30.
EAST NEWTON 69, MONETT 42
East Newton coach Kyle Fields earned his 85th career victory with the Patriots to become the school’s all-time winningest coach in boys basketball history on Monday, surpassing Mark Branscum, in the Patriots win over the Cubs.
East Newton extended a one-point margin to 12 by the intermission, 36-24, before pulling away after outscoring Monett 18-8 in the third en route to the win.
Conner Killion led East Newton with 25 points and six rebounds to go along with three assists. Kyson Lahman added 19 points and three rebounds, while Lucas Kimbrough finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Cameron George led Monett with nine points, while Tyler Waterman added seven points in the loss.
East Newton takes on McDonald County at 6:30 on Tuesday, while Monett faces Lamar at 5.
