One of the fun parts about playing conference schools is testing your skills against each other in multiple sports. While the football game this year might have gone to the Barton County Tigers, Vernon County would claim the win on the hardwood Monday night in Wynn Gymnasium with a balanced attack. The Crimson Sound Pit Band would add a great spark to the atmosphere as they would play the fight song and other great sounds throughout the evening getting both the crowd and players pumped up.
Nevada would start the game with the ball and Jack Cheaney would go on a 4-0 run of his own before teammate Gabe Smith would hit a 3 to extend the lead to 7 before Lamar would find the bottom of the basket and go on a 4-0 run of their own. The pace of the game was rapid as both teams were chalked full of quick guards that liked to run. Nevada would answer after a Lamar foul and score on an inbound pass from Brice Budd to Kellen Braden. Riddick Shook would step up and use his defensive skill and take 2 charges in this quarter alone, working hard to keep the Nevada Tigers on top and making Lamar question whether or not they wanted to take a chance driving to the bucket. Both teams would trade several transition buckets throughout the rest of the quarter ending the first 8 minutes with Nevada 15 and Lamar 10.
To start the second quarter Lamar would get the ball first and get a quick bucket knocking the Nevada lead down to 3, but Gabe Smith would answer with a bucket in the lane to put the lead right back to 5. A Lamar 4-0 run would get it down to 1, and they would have a few opportunities to get ahead of Nevada, but couldn’t get the ball to fall. Gabe Smith would hit 1 of 2 free throws to make the score 18-16, and Nevada would come up with a defensive stop and work the ball around before Brice Budd would drive and then dish out to Kellen Braden for a 3-pointer. Lamar would answer with a bucket, but Jack Cheaney would grab a blocked shot on the other end and take it to the Nevada basket for the lay-up. Another strong defensive stand for Nevada would lead to a running Brice Budd finding Uche Mba who would get the bucket, the Lamar foul, and the free throw to extend the Nevada lead out to 8 at 26-18 with 3:35 remaining in the quarter. Lamar would score on their next possession, showing they would not be going home any time soon, but Nevada continued to spread the ball around the halfcourt and this time Budd would find an open Riddick Shook in the corner for the 3 ball. Lamar would get two baskets in a row after converting one from a Nevada turnover, but Uche Mba would answer for Nevada with a turn-around jumper keeping Lamar from ever getting too close. Jack Cheaney would get a steal for Nevada on the next possession, but Lamar would steal it back and get a 3-pointer of their own. Nevada continued to share the ball, working to find the best shot, and Riddick Shook found just that in Kellen Braden where he would drain a corner 3 right in front of the Lamar bench to take the lead back up to 7 with 1:15 to go in the half. A great block at the basket by Uche Mba would give Nevada the ball back, but the next bit of time both teams would struggle, coming up with empty possessions before Jack Cheaney would take a hard foul driving to the bucket, converting 1 of 2 free throws and giving the Tigers a 35-27 lead going into halftime.
Nevada would start the ball to open the 3rd quarter of play and Kellen Braden would get fouled in the act of shooting a straightaway 3, where he would convert 2 of 3 free throws and give Nevada their first double-digit lead. Nevada came out in a zone defense and Lamar quickly found a hole in the back scoring on their first possession of the half. Nevada would answer on their next inbound play with a pass from Brice Budd to Kellen Braden, and then Nevada would get the ball back on the other end after a Lamar offensive charge. Braden would get blocked on his next shot attempt, but Brice Budd would intercept Lamar’s outlet pass giving Nevada a few opportunities to get shots up, but none would find the bottom of the net. Lamar would score the next 5 points off of a transition bucket and then an old-fashioned 3-point play cutting the deficit down to 5 quickly. Nevada would answer by breaking Lamar’s press and finding Gabe Smith for the open lay-up to extend the lead back out to 41-34. A Nevada defensive stop on the other end would give Jack Cheaney the opportunity to drive to the bucket on the next two possessions and just like that Nevada was back to their double-digit lead. Brice Budd would steal the cross-court Lamar pass and head to the basket in transition taking the hard foul from Lamar and would step up and hit both free throws. With just over 2 minutes remaining in the quarter, Lamar would pick up their 5th foul, sending Nevada to the free throw line, but the physicality of the game really began to show here as they weren’t quite as sharp from the line as they have been on their last couple of outings. Each team would have empty possessions before Jack Cheaney would steal the ball and find a running Brice Budd who would drive to the bucket and get it to fall, ending the 3rd quarter with Nevada up 49-36.
Nevada would start the 4th quarter with a couple of starters on the bench, as they still have 2 more conference games to play this week, which all hold importance in the long game. Lamar and Nevada would both come up empty in their first possessions, but a Lamar foul would give Nevada the ball back where they would move the ball around, using up some clock before Alex Ast would find Mason Majors for an open 3-pointer for the first points of the quarter. Lamar would score off an inbound play with 5:20 remaining in the game and Nevada began to run some of their stall game, which was great to run some time, but often came up empty in the scoring column. Jack Cheaney would drive to the basket with just over 2 minutes to go in the game increasing the Nevada lead to 15, but Lamar would begin to hit some 3’s they had been missing earlier in the game, making it hard for Nevada to really take a breath. Lamar would put on the full-court press where Nevada’s Riddick Shook would catch a football-style pass, find a running Brice Budd behind him who would then dish off to a wide-open Jack Cheaney for the lay-in for a score of 57-46. Lamar would hit one more 3 before both teams would trade some free throws and the game would end with Nevada winning it 62-51.
Nevada used great ball movement to give themselves balanced scoring throughout the night, and finding ways to find the open shot. Jack Cheaney would lead all scorers with 20, Kellen Braden added 16, Gabe Smith had 8, Riddick Shook added 6, Uche Mba had 5, Brice Budd had 4, and Mason Majors had 3.
After the win, Head Coach Shaun Gray stated “Our guys defended hard last night and did a good job of boxing out for most of the night. We held the elite quickness of Ian Ngugi in check most of the night with a team effort. We moved the ball well and attacked the basket with a higher rate of conversion which is something we hope to continue. Our guys have shown great focus in game preparation and that is something we hope continues as we progress in conference play.” Overall he said he was “Really proud of the teamwork and effort of our guys. Big week for us and we hope to continue this momentum into the Monett game.”
The Nevada Tigers will get right at 24 hours to get their legs back under them after the fast-paced game as they host the Monett Cubs on Tuesday at Wynn Gymnasium.
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