Worth County's boys could not complete a comeback bid against the Nodaway-Holt Trojans and came up short in the third-place game of the Northwest Missouri Tournament Thursday night 63-52. The game took a similar course to the CFX game in which the Tigers dug themselves into an early hole and could not climb out. This time, they dug themselves into a 9-0 hole by forcing too many passes and by giving up too many transition baskets and not keeping them off the boards.
The Tigers finally got on the board as Bryce Ross scored a pair of free throws off a drive and Todd Harding got another drive to make it 9-4. But the defensive miscues continued; Carson Long was driving into the lane and getting people the ball at will and the help was either too slow or not there at all. Cody Ridler hit a pair of transition baskets and then Brandon Saxton got all alone inside to make it 15-6. Eli Mullock scored in transition off a Zach Harmening drive, but then Zach Lemar answered with a 3-pointer. J.J. Mullock took a lob pass and Bryce Ross scored on a third-chance putback to make it 18-12 after one quarter of play.
Lemar started off the second quarter with a 3-pointer that put Nodaway-Holt back up by 9, but Dylan Kinsella converted a 3-point play to cut it back to 6. The lead stayed between 6 and 9 until Alex Harmening got a steal, Dylan scored off a fast break after Zach Harmening pushed it up the floor, and Eli Mullock scored from inside to make it 26-23. The two teams traded buckets until the half, when Nodaway-Holt led 32-27.
Cody Ridler opened the scoring with a free throw for Nodaway-Holt in the second half and then Lemar hit a 3-pointer after Nodaway-Holt got an offensive board and kickout. Eli Mullock countered with a backdoor layup and Todd Harding went to the rack and made one out of two free throws to make it 36-30, but then the Tigers lost Michael Brown on consecutive plays and he nailed two 3-pointers to push the lead back into double digits at 42-30. Todd Harding was fouled on a three-shot foul and made all three attempts, but Brandon Saxton scored on a drive and Patrick O'Riley hit a free throw to make it 45-33. Garrett Hawk scored from the right side and Jordan Harding hit a free throw after a steal; Nodaway-Holt countered with a 3-pointer from Aric Gazaway and a drive from Long to give them their biggest lead at 50-36 before J.J. Mullock scored from inside with 5 seconds left to make it 50-38 after three quarters.
Trailing 53-40 with 5:31 left in the fourth, Worth County finally made its run as Todd Harding hit two free throws to start the rally. Harding followed with a steal with 4:39 left and added a 3-pointer with 2:54 left. Zach Harmening followed with a steal left that made it 53-49 and Worth County had a chance to make it a one-possession game following a Nodaway-Holt turnover, but Zach Harmening airballed a shot with 1:56 left; on the ensuing possession, nobody matched up on O'Riley, whose layup made it a six-point game. Eli Mullock's free throw with 1:38 left made it 55-50, but Nodaway-Holt would make 8 consecutive free throws, six of them by Long, to put the game away.
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