With chilling temps and a frosty wind chill the Nevada Tigers traveled south to Granby, Missouri to take on the East Newton Patriots and open up Big 8 West play for the 23-24 winter basketball season. The Tigers have had success against the Patriots in the past but have been winless in the Patriot Gymnasium since the 2018 season.
Both teams seemed a little slow after having their games earlier in the week postponed due to weather. The Tigers were coming in on a 4-game winning streak, while the Patriots were riding a 5-game winning streak of their own.
The Patriots would win the tip-off and would move the ball around for over a minute-and-a-half, which included a couple of Nevada defensive deflections causing the ball to go out-of-bounds a couple of times but would end up with a Patriot on the free throw line knocking down both shots to get the scoring started. Kellen Braden would drive the ball in on the other end for an old-fashioned 3-point play to give Nevada their first lead at 3-2. East Newton would go on a 4-0 run before a Brice Budd post-up bucket would get Nevada back on the board. Several Nevada unforced turnovers and a lack of rebounding gave East Newton a chance to extend their lead by as many as 8 at one point in the opening quarter. With two Nevada starters called for 2 fouls a piece before the first 8 minutes elapsed the evening was starting off a bit rocky for the Tigers as they ended the first stanza down 9-15.
The 2nd quarter took a while to heat up, as neither team would find a bucket until the 5:25 mark when a Brice Budd steal, lay-up, and free throw brought the Tigers back within 4. Each team continued to battle back and forth at both ends with several long possessions, but not a lot of progress. Towards the end of the quarter, Brice Budd would make a great assist to Alex Ast who found an opening in the back of the East Newton zone defense for an easy lay-in bucket bringing the Tigers within 1, at 19-20 going into the locker room.
East Newton would start the 3rd quarter with the ball and open the scoring on an open jumper. It was easy to see what one of the emphasis points Coach Gray must’ve made in the locker room at halftime as the Tigers crashed the offensive boards on their first possession giving themselves several opportunities before Kellen Braden would eventually knock down a trey from the right-hand side that would tie the game up at 22 all. The Patriots would go back down on their next possession and get an offensive rebound of their own with the put-back shot to retake the lead. Kellen Braden hit his second trey of the quarter to put Nevada back up 25-24. East Newton would take the ball back down and run right at Jack Cheaney, who with two fouls, had to let them go by for a lay-up with just under 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. At the two-minute mark of the 3rd quarter, Nevada decided it was time to heat things up, and that they did. Coming out in a full-court press and trap, Brice Budd would get another steal, lay-up, and free throw to tie the game back up at 28 all, and the Tigers just started rolling. A second Brice Budd steal and lay-up, 2 steals by Gabe Smith, one that led to a Jack Cheaney drive and lay-up, and one that gave Smith a lay-up of his own would give the Tigers a 10-0 run and a 36-28 lead going into the final quarter of play and all of the momentum.
Nevada would pick up where they left out, starting the 4th quarter with the ball and a Gabe Smith 3-pointer to continue their run before East Newton would get a bucket to take the Tiger lead back to single digits at 39-30. Each team traded baskets back and forth before Nevada began their pass-and-stall game forcing the Patriots to begin using up the fouls they had to give before the Tigers would shoot free throws halfway through the quarter. With 2:35 remaining Nevada would go to the free throw line with every East Newton foul and would go 6 for 8 throughout that time, and would end the night going 16 of 20 with 3 of the 4 Tigers that went to the line for the evening shooting 100 percent. The Tigers began finding holes in the back of the East Newton zone giving themselves opportunities to score through unselfish and balanced play as they moved the ball efficiently waiting for the best opportunity to score, which was a great turn-around from the 1st quarter where they were plagued with costly turnovers and frustrating fouls. Riddick Shook showed up big in the 4th quarter, while it might not show as much in the scorebook, but hit 4 free throws and took 2 charges helping the Tigers check all of the necessary boxes to win on the road in the Big 8 West.
Head Coach Shaun Gray was excited to end his drought and get a win in Granby but didn’t tell the boys about that particular stat until after the game, not wanting to add any extra pressure. After the game he said “We came out playing hard but not finishing defensive possessions with rebounds and then we shot ourselves in the foot with silly turnovers on offense, thus finding ourselves in a big hole, but as this group continually has done we showed resilience and grit to stay in it and claw back. We got better at rebounding the ball and started to take care of it better. Brice Budd’s defensive energy and free throw shooting were huge for us, as well as Kellen Braden’s 3 balls giving us a huge lift, and Gabe Smith’s early 4th quarter three was icing on the cake for our 13-0 run.”
Nevada was led in scoring by Brice Budd with 19 points, 10 of which he picked up in the 1st half to keep the Tigers in the game. Joining him in double-figures was Jack Cheaney with 13, and Kellen Braden with 11. Gabe Smith hit 5 in the crucial turning point of the game, Riddick Shook went perfect from the line to add 4 free throws, and Alex Ast added 2 for the final score of 54.
The Tigers now 8-5 on the season, and riding a 5-game win streak, (1-0 in the Big 8 West play) have a very busy week coming up. They will test their conference road stamina with a trip to Seneca on Tuesday to take on the Indians and then will have 3 games in the very competitive Frontenac Raider Classic Tournament to round out the week.
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