With an exciting slate of events on the agenda, Friday evening at Wynn Gym the Nevada Tigers had their sights set on their opponent, which was nothing short of a tall task. (pun intended) With a Wildcat Varsity roster not listing a single player under 5’10” the Tigers would have to find ways to adjust their attack as they hoped to stay in the running for at least a share of the Big 8 West title.
The first two-quarters of play would see each team score 14 points apiece after each 8-minute mark as the Tigers found most of their scoring behind the arc and turning the Wildcats over with some intense full-court pressure. Cassville would score the first 3-ball to get the scoring started in a game that would eventually see 6 ties and 8 lead changes. Kellen Braden would score Nevada’s first 5 points of the game, first by slipping behind the tall Wildcat defense for an easy lay-in from a Jack Cheaney assist, and then on the other end with a 3-pointer. Cassville would get an offensive rebound and put-back on their end tying everything back up at 5. Jack Cheaney would find paydirt from way behind the arc to give the Tigers back the lead, but some unforced Nevada turnovers and Cassville rebounds would give the Wildcats multiple opportunities to find the bucket. A Riddick Shook 3-pointer would tie everything back up at 11 all, followed by an Uche Mba rebound and outlet pass to Brice Budd who found an open Riddick Shook at the top of the arc for another 3 and a quick Nevada lead, but Cassville would answer with a 3 of their own with about 30 seconds left in the quarter and at the end of 8 minutes there would be no fouls called and 14 points on the scoreboard for each team.
Cassville would start the 2nd quarter with the ball and quickly score inside, and Mason Majors would get called for the first foul of the game in the act of a Wildcat shot, but on the other end of the court, he would answer with a corner 3 of his own tying everything back up at 17 all. Cassville would continue to own the boards while Nevada would often settle for one shot. The Tigers began using their speed and defensive prowess to their advantage on the full-court press and Brice Budd would get a steal and run-out lay-up followed by a Jack Cheaney steal off the press and a lay-up, Wildcat foul, and free throw to take the lead by 2 at 23-21. Another Nevada steal would lead to a Mason Majors 3-pointer that would force the Wildcats to take a timeout with just over 5 minutes to go in the quarter. Cassville would go back to their bread-and-butter utilizing their size to get a bucket in the paint, but the Tiger press continued to hound them with every chance they could giving Kellen Braden his turn at the steal and lay-up off the press. Both teams would trade some long possessions before Cassville would get a bucket underneath with about 90 seconds remaining and that would be the last basket scored in the half and both teams would head to the locker room with 28 points apiece.
The Tigers would get the ball first to start the 3rd quarter, but the Wildcats would be the ones that came out firing. Brice Budd would block a Cassville 3-pointer from the corner, but the Tigers would be unable to convert on the other end and the Wildcats would go on a 12-0 run before the Tigers would get a point on the board with 2:28 remaining in the quarter on 2 Uche Mba free throws. A Nevada steal would give Jack Cheaney the chance to get the first field goal of the half on a reverse lay-up and the Tigers began working to chip away at the Wildcat lead. A Brice Budd defensive deflection would lead to a Mason Majors steal, lay-up through contact, and a free throw, and just like that Nevada’s run of their own had them back within 5. The Tiger defense would force another Cassville turnover in the halfcourt and Kellen Braden would get fouled and shoot 2 bonus free throws, nailing them both. The Tigers would get another steal with about 45 seconds left in the quarter where a Brice Budd drive would bring the defense in and then he would dump the ball down to an open Kellen Braden behind the Wildcats for the lay-up. Cassville would answer on an inbound play where height won out and gave themselves a 4-point lead going into the final frame.
The Tigers would come up empty on their first couple of shots, but a Jack Cheaney steal would lead to Alex Ast getting a shot up, where he would be fouled by the Wildcat defender and hit 1 of 2 from the free throw line. A Kellen Braden steal on the press would give him an open lay-up and the Tigers were back within 2 at 43-41. Riddick Shook would predict the defense and he would stand tall for a charge and give the Tigers the ball back, but Nevada was unable to take advantage of this extra opportunity, and with 5:00 minutes to go the Wildcats would get the ball back, hold it for a long possession and then get a bucket to fall. Brice Budd would drive pulling the defense in where he could then find Jack Cheaney cutting toward the basket for the assist and lay-in. Each team would trade fouls and turnovers before a Jack Cheaney assist to Riddick Shook under the Wildcat zone would tie everything back up at 45. Uche Mba would then steal the ball and get the ball to Riddick Shook where he was fouled and would hit 1 of 2 from the free throw line giving the Tigers the lead back for the first time since the 2nd quarter. Cassville would answer quickly getting a putback from an offensive rebound taking the lead right back with 1:30 to go. An empty Nevada possession would force them to start fouling to get the clock stopped and now both teams were in the bonus the rest of the way. The speed of the game showed for both teams at the free-throw line as their legs had been putting in the work up and down the court. Cassville would step up to the line and miss both free throws, however, the 6’8” frame on the block out allowed them to get the rebound and putback. Nevada would get a chance at some 3’s, but most of them fell just a bit short, forcing them to continue to foul and send the Wildcats to the line. A Brice Budd assist to Jack Cheaney who would step up and nail the 3-pointer would get Nevada back within 3 with 7.6 seconds to go and Head Coach Shaun Gray would call the timeout to draw up a plan. A Nevada foul would send the Wildcats back to the line where they would miss both free throws giving the Tigers hope that they could possibly tie things back up. Nevada would get the ball down the floor and get one shot up before the buzzer would go off, but the shot wouldn’t fall, and while the Tigers battled back valiantly, it ended up being just short of the “W” on Friday evening and Cassville would get their first win in conference play while the Tigers would fall to 3-2, proving that winning in the Big 8 West is a tough feat each and every game.
The scoring for the Tigers included Jack Cheaney with 14, Kellen Braden had 12, Mason Majors and Riddick Shoot each had 9 apiece, and Brice Budd and Uche Mba each had 2, and Alex Ast had one free throw.
After the game Head Coach Shaun Gray said “While we have seen teams with size and are almost always at a height disadvantage, Cassville was our first opponent of the year that centers their entire offense around feeding the post, and with good reason. They featured two legit 6’8” post players who were both thick and able to keep the ball high around the basket. Our guys did a great job of countering with our speed and pressure creating over 20 Cassville turnovers, unfortunately, we were unable to convert those turnovers into enough points. We shied away from attacking the Cassville 1-3-1 zone inside and instead settled for 3’s. Early in the game that approach was fine as we connected 4 times from deep early, however, as the game went along we went cold from outside and only made 1 triple in the second half. The lack of balance offensively and the cold shooting from outside led to a lower-than-normal point output from our squad. As our crew has shown all season long we kept fighting and had a chance to win the game late in the 4th quarter, unfortunately, we missed some easy scoring opportunities in crunch time and were unable to take the lead late. Cassville missed enough free throws for us to still have a shot to tie it at the buzzer that unfortunately came up just short.”
The Tigers struggled to get points on the board scoring on just 41% of their 2-point attempts, 22% from the 3-ball, and 50% from the free-throw line showing that they definitely have areas where they can improve moving forward and finishing out the season strong.
Nevada will head to Pleasant Hill on Tuesday for a match-up with the fellow district opponent and Coach Gray said “Pleasant Hill has some size and has played a lot of zone this year, so that will be a great chance for us to show improvement and put a better foot forward as we continue to try to grow into the best team we can be for the postseason.”
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