Worth County’s boys stayed on the right track as they pulled off a 60-53 win over Nodaway-Holt and a 56-51 win over King City as they raised their winning streak to three and evened their record to 1-1 in the conference and raised their record to 9-7 overall. They did so despite not having Jordan Harding at the game. However, coach Chris Healy used freshmen Andrew Mullock and Travis Troutwine effectively and both of them knew what to do when they were in there and Andrew made several hustle plays on the floor.
The Trojans came in as a hot shooting team and tried to shoot the Tigers right out of the gym Monday, hitting four 3-pointers in the first 4:21 of the game to take a 16-8 lead. Nick Patterson, Zach Lemar, and Josh Schafer all hit deep 3-pointers to stretch out Worth County’s defense. Bryce Ross had a pair of inside shots off passes from Todd Harding and Eli Mullock and Eli added a drive and Todd added a coast to coast fast break for Worth County during that stretch.
Nodaway-Holt came in as an athletic team that would run up and down the floor. But Worth County, instead of slowing down the pace, elected to run right with them creating one of the most frenzied and chaotic games of the year. Bryce Ross scored from inside and then hit a shot from the high post off a pass from Wyatt McClain and then Alex Harmening, who had a career night with 20 points, hit a 3-pointer from the left side and added a fast break and Todd Harding blocked a shot and then broke down the court as he got a long pass for a breakaway layup to make it 19-16. The Tigers were made even smaller in the absence of Jordan Harding, but the squirts had come to play. Blake Shamberger hit two free throws for Nodaway-Holt, but Alex Harmening made a leaping grab of an offensive glass against a taller player and converted it into free throws to make it 21-18 after one quarter.
The Tigers continued to push the pace as Alex Harmening got a drive and a floater to go down and then Bryce Ross jumped a pass on the press and later turned it into an inside shot off an inbounds play to make it 25-18.
Worth County began playing out of control at that point, taking some crazy shots as Nodaway-Holt came back to cut it to two on Brandon Saxton’s 3-pointer at the top of the key to make it 27-25. But it also paid off as Eli sprinted into the backcourt to strip the ball and set up an inside shot from Bryce Ross, which meant Worth County was still up 31-30 at the break when Josh Shafer hit a 3-pointer late.
Alex Harmening hit a corner 3 to make it 34-30, but then Nodaway-Holt began working the ball inside with success, making use of their height advantage with 6’4” Brandon Saxton to come back and tie it up. They knotted it at 36 and at 38 before Bryce Ross tipped an offensive board to Andrew Mullock and the freshman made a layup in traffic to spark a run. Alex Harmening added a 3-pointer and then Harmening pushed it up the floor and got it into Bryce Ross; Ross put a perfect head fake on his defender and went to the basket to make it 45-38. Todd Harding’s fast break made it 49-41, but then Nodaway-Holt cherrypicked the play perfectly as Lemar got behind the defense for a layup to make it 49-43 after three.
Nodaway-Holt went back to using their size at the start of the fourth and they fought back to tie it at 49 as Saxton hit from the right wing with 5:56 left. For the next two minutes, neither side could take control of the game, but then Bryce Ross answered for Worth County, hitting a shot in the high post and then cutting inside with 2:56 left to make it 53-49. Blake Shamberger answered for Nodaway-Holt, getting a pair of free throws and a drive down the right side to tie it again at 53 with 2:04 left following a Nodaway-Holt steal.
Todd Harding drove into the lane and missed a floater for Worth County, but Bryce Ross kept it alive with an offensive board. Todd Harding drove down the left side of the lane this time and drew the foul, which set up an inbounds play; Wyatt McClain then inbounded it to Alex Harmening, whose 3-pointer from the left side went in and put Worth County up 56-53. Nicholas Patterson tried to answer for Nodaway-Holt, but his 3-pointer went in and out and Wyatt McClain chased it down in the corner. Zach Lemar tried to strip him of the ball, but picked up his fifth foul trying to do so, which deprived Nodaway-Holt of their best 3-point shooter.
Todd Harding missed the front end of a 1-1, which gave Nodaway-Holt a chance to come within one or tie with a 3 and they tried to work the ball in the post. But Eli Mullock helped out perfectly and stripped Blake Shamberger of a lob pass and Todd Harding hit two free throws to make it a two possession game at 58-53. Lemar then fumbled the ball out of bounds and Harding hit two more free throws with 14.5 seconds left for the final score.
Last Friday, the Tigers beat King City 56-51 to take the rubber game between the two teams and even their GRC record at 1-1. King City scored at will against the Tigers in the first quarter, going up 21-16 after the first quarter, but Worth County fought back to within one point at the break as they started to take control of the game. Neither team could take control in the third quarter, but the Tigers were able to jump out to a lead in the fourth and then King City missed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left that would have tied the game up.
No comments:
Post a Comment