Worth County came out not ready to play as they began hacking and fouling at will and put Polo on this line for 5 of their first 11 points in the early going. They struggled against Polo's press as they threw 2-3 wild long passes against it that were not there and there were some defensive breakdowns to go along with it. Consequently, they found themselves in a 15-4 hole against the Panthers. In a game between evenly matched teams, that is frequently the ballgame right there. Alex Harmening continued to battle foul difficulties as he sat on the bench right off the bat with two fouls.
In the early going, the referees were not much help; there was one case in which the Polo player had two hands on Wyatt McClain, which is an obvious hand-checking foul; that was not called. There was another situation where a referee standing clear across the court called a non-existent palming violation.
Bryce Ross finally got going as Wyatt McClain inbounded the ball to him on one play and then Todd Harding drove to the basket and found him open inside on another play to make it 15-8. Worth County switched to a 2-3 zone to stop Polo from driving at will, but then the Panthers started launching 3-pointers at will and nobody came out to guard their shooters. Consequently, the Tigers found themselves down 25-12 after one quarter after playing as though Polo was really Jefferson transplanted 90 miles south and wearing different colored uniforms.
Worth County finally started doing better offensively, attacking the basket and getting to the line. Alex Harmening came back in and hit a 3-pointer to make it 29-19 with 5:15 left. But the pattern of the game was that whenever Worth County needed a critical stop, their defense let them down. In this case, they gave up a pair of 3-pointers to make it 35-31. Back came the Tigers, attacking the basket and getting on the line; Todd Harding found Bryce Ross open inside to make it 35-28. But then the defense let them down again as twice more, Polo would spot up from downtown from the top of the key and nobody came out and guarded them as the Panthers went back up 43-31 at the break; given the fact that Polo had six 3-pointers in the first half, Worth County was lucky to be down only 12.
Worth County switched to a man to man defense, which provided a mild rally as Ross scored the first six points of the third period to make it 47-37. But then the rebounding disappeared and Polo began driving at will on Worth County and they scored the next six points to go up 53-37. It was Bryce Ross who kept the Tigers in the game as he answered the call and scored two inside shots and a putback against the taller Panther squad as the Tigers fought back to within 54-43 with 1:56 left in the third. Finally, Todd Harding scored off a drive and Jordan Harding scored off a backdoor pass from Wyatt McClain to get the lead back under double digits at 55-47.
The Tigers kept plugging away, getting an inside shot from Ross and three free throws from Todd Harding to make it 57-52 with 6:54 left. But then the defense deserted them again as the Tigers failed to box out and Polo put it back in to start an 8-0 run that made it 65-52 with 4:09 left. Polo got a steal and drive and began driving to the basket at will; the referees helped them along as a Polo player with the ball slid across the floor and didn't get called for the obvious traveling violation. Todd Harding put a fake on a Polo player and hit a 3-pointer to make it 68-57, but then Harding fouled out and two more Tigers followed him to the bench as Worth County fouled down the stretch in a futile effort to get the ball back and make a run.
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