NEOSHO, Mo. — Neosho opened the game with Cassville on a large scoring run and played with that momentum the rest of the way en route to a 67-40 win in the opening round of Black Bracket play in the 2021 Neosho Holiday Classic on Tuesday.
“I think we play pretty well when we get ahead because we play stout defense and try to suffocate teams as best we can,” Neosho coach Zane Culp said. “When we play with a lead, we can kind of do some different things—play different guys and stay fresh. It was good to get out to a hot start … jump on top of it and finish it out.”
Neosho (6-2) dominated the turnover battle, 24-10, and used takeaways for a 29-1 advantage in points off turnovers. Neosho also shot 43 percent from the field in the win and converted seven times from the perimeter.
K’dyn Waters, who was honored before the game after entering the 1,000-point scoring club in Neosho’s 66-36 win over Seneca on Dec. 18, finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He had three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
“He is obviously a great player and we don’t even have to talk about that because he shows it every night,” Culp said. “But he is also a great kid, a great man. He is super polite, is nice to everyone and gets along with his teammates, his teachers and his coaches. He is just a joy to be around and you couldn’t ask for a better move-in (player).”
Carter Baslee added 11 points and five rebounds for Neosho, while Jared Siler finished with 10 points and three boards. Isaiah Green and Kael Smith each finished with seven points. Green added six rebounds, five assists and six steals.
Jonathan Dunbar finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds and four blocks to lead Cassville. Aidan Cook and Timothy Hudson each finished with six points.
The host Wildcats, playing in just their second home game of the season, kicked off the Holiday Classic in a big way, pushing their way to a 15-2 advantage over the first four minutes of action. Waters led the way in the opening surge with eight points, while Smith also knocked down a 3-pointer.
“That was really big,” Culp said of the run. “We hit a couple of 3s and we were getting some steals and runouts. When you jump on a team 15-2, you are usually sitting pretty good if you keep scoring, and we did.”
Neosho pushed its lead to 22-5 late in the first quarter on a Siler 3-pointer.
NHS continued with the momentum into the second quarter, pushing the lead to 20 with 1:30 when Baslee converted inside to make the score 34-14.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but if you can put doubt in a team’s mind in the first half, you are usually in a pretty good spot,” Culp said. “We just kept putting it on them and we weren’t satisfied with a 15-2 run. That was big for us.”
Neosho took a 35-17 advantage into the intermission, but Cassville showed signs of life early in the third quarter, using a 6-2 run to trim the lead down to 14. But Neosho responded to the adversity by outscoring Cassville 14-6 through the rest of the quarter, building an insurmountable cushion for the final eight minutes of play.
“If you are going to beat the good teams, you can’t have long lulls in your game,” Culp said of his team’s ability to stave off Cassville early in the third. “We just reset and made sure the next few possessions really mattered.”
Neosho advances to play Huntsville in the Black Bracket semifinals at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, while Cassville takes on Monett at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the junior high.
