Friday, December 17, 2010

Worth County Boys Win 1st Tournament in 14 Years

Worth County got off to a slow start against Maryville JV, climbing into a 12-point hole late in the third quarter. But they used a 26-point fourth quarter to come back and win the Northwest Missouri Tournament 53-49 Friday and win their first tournament in 14 years. The last tournament win for the Tigers was in 1996 when P.J. Sanders, Dustin Lambert, Nate Combs, Ben Fletcher, and Daniel Gladstone played and the Tigers won the Gilman City Tournament by beating the host Gilman City squad. They also won the Albany Tournament that year. Before that, their last tournament win was in 1993 when Scott Parman and Mike Moutray's team beat Jefferson for the Worth County Tournament title. Before 1993, there was a ten-year tournament drought for the Tigers; Worth County won their own tournament in 1983 when Donnie Waldeier and Kent Thompson and Michael Hann, among others, beat South Harrison for the tournament title and avenged one of their four losses that year.

For a long time, it looked like a gallant effort for the Tigers would come up short as they battled referees and an extremely physical Maryville JV squad. They could do nothing against them in the first quarter as none of their shots were going in. They went scoreless for the first 5:40 of the game before Todd Harding finally got a putback with 2:20 left. Thankfully, they were playing strongly on the other end of the floor, which meant that they were only down 5-2. Bryce Ross scored from inside to make it 5-4 before Kyle Leslie's fast break made it 7-4 after one quarter. Worth County was getting a lot of good looks, but the shots were not falling and they had to attack the basket more.

The Tigers fell behind 10-4, but then started fighting back as Eli Mullock got a drive and floater to go down. Bryce Ross and Alex Harmening took charges and Ross hit a pair of free throws. Worth County continued to stop themselves offensively by picking up their dribbles too much and the referees missed an obvious over and back call on Maryville JV, but Wyatt McClain finally cut inside to make it 12-10 with 4:01 left. The Tigers were doing a better job of attacking the basket in the second quarter and getting on the line, but they were still behind 17-13. Nonetheless, Coach Chris Healy said that they were fine since if they could hold them to 17 the second half, the shots would eventually start to fall. "It took us two quarters to adjust to their physical style of play," said Healy. "We knew this was going to be a competitive game and I was pleased with how the rest of our players stepped up when Bryce and Todd fouled out. When you start feeling success, things start getting easier for you and practices get better."

Maryville came to play with their extremely physical style of ball, but unlike Northeast Nodaway, Worth County was attacking the basket. "You have to counter their pressure with pressure," explained Healy. It was only a matter of time before it started paying off. All of a sudden, Worth County got some shots to drop and moved ahead. Bryce Ross hit a pair of free throws and Todd Harding hit a drive and floater and the game was tied at 17. Kyle Leslie hit a pair of free throws, but Eli Mullock jumped a pass, did a perfect crossover, and got the layup. Alex Harmening hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:25 and Worth County went ahead for the first time in the game.

But then things threatened to head south in a hurry; Maryville started posting up inside and rebounding at will and getting all the calls. One referee called a questionable foul on Todd Harding which was not his call; Alex Harmening picked up his third foul during that stretch as well. On the other end, there was at least one occasion where the Maryville players were putting their hands on Bryce Ross' back and getting away with it. Eric Martin was sealing and scoring at will, while Cole Forney added an NBA 3-pointer as Maryville pulled away to a 37-25 lead late in the third quarter before Bryce Ross hit from the right baseline to make it 37-27.

It looked like the Tigers had put forth a gallant effort that would fall short, but that was not to be the case. The Tigers used their most productive quarter in the last three years, putting up 26 points in the final quarter to get the win. The win was also their biggest comeback in the last three years; the last time they rescued a bigger deficit was three years ago when they came back from an 18-point first half deficit against Hamilton to beat the Hornets in GRC action.

Worth County put on the full court press to start the fourth quarter. The first three quarters were being played at Maryville's pace. But when the Tigers changed the tempo of the game, it worked in their favor as it created a lot more opportunities for their guards to create chaos. Ross hit a free throw to start off, then Alex Harmening scored off a steal and then Todd Harding found Ross inside for a pair of free throws to make it 37-32. Eric Martin got a putback for Maryville, and Ross and Harding each picked up their fourth fouls. But then Worth County got a free throw, Todd Harding converted a 3-point play, Jordan Harding scored from inside, and then Todd Harding got a steal off the press to put Worth County in front to stay at 40-39 with 5:23 left.

Following a stop by Worth County, Jordan Harding hit a free throw and the Alex Harmening created pressure which caused a backcourt violation. On the other end, Alex then saved an errant pass from going out of bounds on the right side and got it into Ross to make it 43-39. Maryville missed a free throw, but a bad pass led to a Forney bucket inside to make it 43-41. Todd Harding pushed it up the floor and turned it into a free throw with 3:25 left, but he then fouled out and Tyler Kenkel hit two free throws to make it 44-43 with 3:07 left.

Eli Mullock then drove it down the left side and got it into Ross and he scored to make it 46-43 with 2:51 left. Kenkel missed a 3-pointer, but Forney was there for the offensive board and made one of two to make it 46-44. Wyatt McClain then picked up his dribble and was in trouble, but Jordan Harding made a perfect backdoor cut for a layup to make it 48-44. Worth County got a stop and a chance to raise the lead, but Wyatt traveled with the basketball. But Maryville tried to get it into the post and Jordan Harding got the steal and aired it out to Ross, who took it away from two defenders and drew the foul and hit one out of two free throws. After both teams exchanged turnovers, Alex Harmening fouled Payton Scarbrough on a 3-pointer with 1:10 left, but he only made one out of three to make it 49-45. Maryville got an offensive board, but struggled in their halfcourt set and threw a bad pass out of bounds. Nobody from Worth County even came close to touching it, but the referees started helping out Maryville all they could at that point and gave them back the ball.

This time, Maryville rushed a 3-pointer and it went out of bounds off of Jordan Harding; Bryce Ross tried to jump a pass, but picked up his fifth foul and Scarbrough hit one out of two to make it 49-46 with 49.3 seconds. Worth County beat the press and ran the clock all the way down to 22.5 seconds before Maryville could foul and Eli hit two free throws to make it 51-46. But then Maryville responded as they passed the ball around several times before Cole Forney hit a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left to make it 51-49. Maryville JV fouled Jordan Harding immediately, but his first free throw was nothing but net and the second one bounced several times on the rim and dropped in to clinch the game for Worth County.

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