The Nevada Tigers returned to Carthage for the third day in a row to take on the Leavenworth Pioneers. Leavenworth would win the tip, however, Nevada would get the ball back on a Brice Budd steal but were unable to convert it to a basket and the Pioneers would strike first with a lay-up and would continue to go on a quick 6-0 run. This would get Coach Shaun Gray to call a quick time-out to rally his troops and the Tigers would come out of that time-out going on a run of their own. Nevada would start their scoring with a defensive rebound and football-style pass almost the length of the court from Brice Budd to Jack Cheaney, creating an open driving lane for Cheaney for the easy 2. Gabe Smith would continue the scoring run off of a 3-pointer and then on the following Tiger possession would go 1 from 2 from the free throw line evening the score up at 6-0 all for the 1st of 3 ties that would occur during the game.
The first quarter would end with Nevada up 16-11, but the Pioneers would keep this game interesting the whole way through. In the 2nd quarter, Nevada seemed to settle in a bit and bring down more defensive rebounds with some easy put back and getting to the free throw line. They would go 4 for 6 from the line in the half, but Leavenworth would outscore them in the second quarter bringing the score to an even 26 all going into the locker room.
The 3rd quarter would prove to be a rough go for the Tigers, but Coach Shaun Gray was proud that even when “shots were not falling and the ball wasn’t bouncing our way, we stayed the course and continued to grind.“ Leavenworth came out of the locker room hot taking the lead on a quick transition bucket after exerting some pressure in a half-court trap defense, and would hold that lead the entire quarter. Holding the Tigers to one field goal and 3 free throws for the quarter, Leavenworth had the momentum going their way.
As the Tigers have shown in previous games, they will not go down without a fight, and even with the Pioneers starting the 4th quarter with a 3 and extending the lead to 39-31, the Tigers continued to chip away one possession at a time and before you knew it Nevada had the deficit cut down and a 3-pointer by Riddick Shook tied the game up for the third and final time. Nevada would force the Pioneers to turn the ball over in the next possession and with 1:17 remaining in regulation the Tigers would never give the ball back, but also failed to convert a contested 3-pointer by Jack Cheaney and the buzzer rang out and it was time for 4 more minutes of basketball.
The Tigers know what an overtime loss feels like, and they were not ready to experience that again. They would open up their scoring onslaught with a 3-pointer by Brice Budd that would dance a bit on the rim before finding the bottom of the net. A defensive stop at the other end and the Tigers would come back down and find an open Kellen Braden in the corner and just like that Nevada was up 47-41. Leavenworth began fouling trying to stop the clock, and the Tigers saw their nemesis at the free throw line show up again only shooting 50% making 3 of 6 in the extra minutes. It proved to be enough to keep the Pioneers in check for this one as the Tigers held them to only scoring 2 free throws in the waning seconds of overtime and Nevada would claim the 5th place finish with a 52-43 win. The game saw 12 lead changes and 3 ties with two teams that liked to move up and down the court.
The Tigers continue to show that they can put a variety of players on the court and they can step up and make players. Head Coach Shaun Gray mentioned after the game that “several players stepped up big for us. Gabe Smith hit some big shots in the first half, Riddick Shook hit the game-tying 3, Brice Budd was great getting to the free throw line and hitting the 3-point go-ahead shot in overtime, Kellen Braden hit the shot to give us some cushion, and Jack Cheaney battled through adversity to be the playmaker that he always is for us.”
He also said that “This is something we can build on, and we are very pleased with our improvements this week. Anytime you can go 2-1 in Carthage it’s something we will take.”
Nevada will get a couple of days rest before they head in the opposite direction on I-49 next week to make their debut in the Butler Tournament on Tuesday against St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School. This will be an interesting match-up that could have district implications later down the road as St. Michael and Nevada are both in Class 4 District 13 this year.
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