The Nevada Tigers traveled north to Pleasant Hill to take on the Harrisonville Wildcats in the semifinal round of the Class 4 District 13 Tournament on Thursday evening. The Wildcats were coming in on a 14-game win streak, but the Nevada Tigers were looking to extend the statement they made earlier in the year when they took down the Wildcats at Harrisonville in December by a 20-point advantage.
Nevada’s Jack Cheaney won an uncontested tip-off, but both teams would trade empty possessions and offensive fouls before Brice Budd would find Cheaney for the 2 and the first Nevada lead. Harrisonville would answer with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer to start the back-and-forth that would be the first quarter of play. Riddick Shook would get a steal and outlet pass to an open Kellen Braden for the bucket and another lead change. Working hard on the defensive boards the Tigers grabbed the rebound and Gabe Smith would find Braden for 2 more as the pace of the game continued to amp up. Brice Budd would get a lay-up and the Tigers had a quick 9-3 lead, but the Wildcats would answer by going on a 13-0 run before Uche Mba would hit 2 free throws and stop the Wildcats' momentum. Nevada would get the ball back with 21 seconds remaining in the quarter and Mason Majors would get a short jumper to fall and after 8 minutes of play, Nevada was down 13-16.
Harrisonville would get a steal and lay-up to start the 2nd quarter, but Nevada was about to catch fire as they would drop 27 points alone in this stanza. Jack Cheaney and Harrisonville would trade buckets for the next two possessions. Mason Majors would grab a defensive rebound, run the full length of the court, and give the ball just the right spin from the left hand for the lay-in, getting the Tigers back within one at 22-21 forcing a Wildcat timeout. Harrisonville would hit a 3 on their next possession, but Riddick Shook would counter that with one of his own. 2 Wildcat free throws would then be answered by a Mason Majors 3-pointer and a tie of 27 all. Harrisonville would then go on a 4-0 run before Nevada would answer with a Brice Budd assist to Majors for another 3. A Nevada defensive stop would give the Tigers a chance to set up their offense and take the lead back which they would on a Jack Cheaney bucket at 32-31. The Tigers would then go on an 8-3 run to round out the quarter with multiple buckets from Cheaney and Budd as they led the Tigers into halftime with a lead of 40-33.
Both teams would start the 3rd with empty possessions, but Cheaney would continue his scoring rampage in the paint to get the Tigers’ scoring going again. Another Nevada defensive rebound would give the Tigers the opportunity to set up their offense and Riddick Shook would find Kellen Braden for 2. A Harrisonville jump shot would get the Wildcats back within 7 with about 5 minutes to go in the quarter. Each team would trade turnovers before Uche Mba would grab the offensive rebound giving the Tigers another chance to reset and Brice Budd would find the bucket and the Tigers would begin to get rolling. A Nevada defensive rebound and outlet pass to Jack Cheaney who would find Kellen Braden for the lay-up and first double-digit Tiger lead. Harrisonville would miss their next 3-point attempt and Brice Budd would nail his trey extending the lead to 51-37. Harrisonville would begin to amp up their defensive pressure in the halfcourt around the perimeter leaving an open Riddick Shook under the basket who would find Uche Mba for the bucket. A Nevada foul gave the Wildcats the opportunity to make 2 free throws with 37 seconds to go in the quarter before the Tigers would get the ball back, and set up their offense creating an opening for Jack Cheaney to hit another spin move in the lane for 2 and not allow enough time to even give the Wildcats another shot with the Tigers taking a 56-43 lead into the final stanza.
The Harrisonville pressure would turn the Tigers over to open the 4th and they would open the scoring with a lay-up. Brice Budd would get fouled on the next Tiger possession and knock down both free throws to counter their points. Harrisonville would get a tough jumper to fall on their next trip down the court, but Nevada’s Riddick Shook would answer big with back-to-back treys with just over 5 minutes to play. The Wildcats would miss their long-range attempt and Nevada would grab the rebound setting up for a Jack Cheaney bucket and Nevada’s first 20-point lead of the night. The Wildcats would hit another tough shot against the Tiger defense before Brice Budd would run the ball down and hit a teardrop bucket in the lane keeping the Tigers' lead out of reach from the Wildcats. Kellen Braden and Mason Majors would each hit some free throws before Harrisonville would get a 3 and a jumper to fall. The Tigers would try and slow the game down a bit and move the ball around running time off the clock before Budd would find an opening in the lane for 2 more. With under a minute to go Nevada would begin pulling their starting 5 to give them a chance to regain some strength before Saturday’s district championship game. Senior Derek Hoffman would get fouled in his time on the court and hit 1 of 2 free throws as the Wildcats began to pull their senior-laden team out one by one to give each athlete their well-deserved recognition. The final score of the night would be 75-56 in favor of the Tigers setting up an opportunity to play for a District Championship against St. Michaels the Archangel on Saturday morning at 11:30 am.
The Tigers would get four players in double-figures led by Jack Cheaney with 18, Brice Budd with 17, Kellen Braden added 12, Mason Majors 11, Riddick Shook 9, Uche Mba 7, and Derek Hoffman 1.
After the game Tigers’ Head Coach Shaun Gray said “Harrisonville was hot early. Their lead guard Dom Jackson got loose for a couple of 3’s in the 1st quarter, and a couple of their role players hit shots, and a 13-0 run helped to give the Wildcats the 16-13 lead after being behind 9-3 to start the game. After making 4 3’s in the 1st quarter we were able to hold them to only 2 3-point buckets the rest of the game. Our 2nd half defense was superb and we held Jackson scoreless. We were a bit cold from the 3-point line early in contrast to the Wildcats, but we stuck with it and got 3’s from multiple sources, even with our leading scorer Jack Cheaney held without a 3-point bucket (he had 5-3’s vs Harrisonville in December and 32 pts) tonight he had 18 on 9 2’s.” When it came to the balanced attack Coach Gray added “Brice Budd was very balanced with 6-2’s a 3 and 2 free throws. He finished really well around the basket and was playing with the flu, although you couldn’t tell from his energy and effort. Mason Majors and Uche Mba gave us a great spark off the bench with 11 and 7 respectively. Kellen Braden was very consistent for us with 12 as well and Riddick Shook was hot from 3, with 3-3’s for his 9 points. We were really proud of our guys’ continued effort all night. We stayed together and weathered the runs from Harrisonville.”
Looking forward to Saturday’s championship game he said “We will have to play really well in order to win a district title. St Michaels is very talented at all 5 positions and beat us by 20 in early December. We are excited to compete for a title and to see a good Nevada faithful turnout on Saturday.”
This will be the second year in a row for the Tigers to make an appearance in the district title game for basketball. Last year they fell to a very talented Barstow team, also out of the Kansas City area.
