This was nothing new for Worth County, which came back from double digits down against North Harrison and Polo to win. Eli Mullock scored off a drive and Alex Harmening hit a 3-pointer to shoot the Tigers right back in the game as they trailed only 28-24 early in the third. Stanberry built it back up to nine at 42-33 with 5:21 left in regulation, but then Worth County finally did a better job of guarding Luke, doing a better job of helping out on the lob passes and getting some steals to get back in the game again. Alex Harmening's free throw with 2:13 left in regulation finally tied it and both teams missed chances to win it at the end.
But in overtime, Stanberry did a much better job of diversifying their attack and won the game. Worth County stayed with Stanberry for the first two minutes and tied it at 46 and 48 as Eli scored off a couple of drives. But after Todd Harding missed a layup that would have put Worth County up one, it was all downhill from there as Stanberry hit their free throws down the stretch and Worth County went ice cold from the field at the wrong time.
The Tigers got off to a slow start this year, but then went through a stretch where they won 12 out of 14 before falling to Stanberry in districts. At the start of the year, Worth County alternated wins and losses. They lost by four to King City but turned around and beat a scrappy Albany squad 50-33. Polo hung 75 points on them to deny them consolation despite Bryce Ross' 29 points, but Worth County came back and beat North Nodaway 58-18 for their home opener.
Worth County finally got going in the Northwest Missouri Tournament. They beat South Nodaway 48-27 and then avenged a loss in Burlington Junction. Playing the same West Nodaway squad on the same floor where they had lost by eight the game before, they turned around and beat them by 19 to get to the finals of the tournament. There, they beat Maryville JV after falling behind as they won their first tournament in 15 years. The last time Worth County had won a tournament, Bill Clinton was president, P.J. Sanders and Daniel Gladstone and Nate Combs and Dustin Lambert and Nate Combs were providing the punch, and Worth County beat Gilman City on their home floor to win the Gilman City Tournament.
The Tigers went into another funk as they dropped a 39 point loss to Jefferson and then lost to Northeast Nodaway and Gallatin at the start of the year. Todd Harding was hurt and sat out after the first quarter of the Gallatin game. However, the Tigers had a game that seemingly turned around their season. Playing at King City, who had beaten them earlier this year, they fell behind by nine points. However, they came back and won the game by six behind a strong third quarter and made it to the second round of the Stanberry Tournament. The game had been moved because of the weather. The Tigers lost by 35 to Jefferson but turned around and beat Stanberry on their home floor for third place as Bryce Ross would not let them lose to Stanberry on the same floor where he had missed two shots that would have tied it against them the year before. That game started their streak where they won 12 out of 14.
That started a streak where Worth County played excellent basketball during the next few games. Against a revenge-minded King City, Worth County got some critical stops on defense and beat them by six. Nodaway-Holt came into Grant City as a hot shooting team that would cause problems with their size as well. They were nearly automatic from downtown at first, building up a 9-point lead, but Worth County came back, got some critical stops on defense down the stretch, and won by seven. They easily handled Albany by 19 for their Courtwarming and then were matched against Princeton, who had destroyed Polo and had a 6'5" kid on their squad. It didn't matter -- Worth County jumped out to a big lead, thwarted a Princeton comeback attempt, built their lead to 20, and held it despite losing Bryce Ross in the final quarter to an ankle sprain.
Worth County had a chance to win for only the third time in 30 years at the Bethany gym, but they crashed and burned at South Harrison, losing by 28. That seemed to take the wind out of their sails as they had to play back to back nights due to the weather. Against Maysville, they struggled from the field in the first half but then used a 29-point third quarter to build up a lead they would not relinquish in winning by 15. Against Polo, the Tigers were behind the whole game but then got a last-second layup from Bryce Ross to win by one over the Panthers, who had beaten them earlier this year. That got them back on track as Stanberry came to town. Stanberry worked the offensive glass at will but got into foul trouble, fouling out Luke and one of their other main players as Worth County overcame an ice cold third quarter to win by eight. Ridgeway came in as an athletic team that would give the Tigers fits; however, Worth County overcame the Rinehart boys and the Owls to win by seven. After that, they came from 14 down to beat North Harrison and spoil their senior night before losing to Hamilton at the end of the season.
The Tigers' biggest liability was their offense -- they only broke 60 points three times all year. Their offensive woes hurt them when it counted the most -- they went ice cold in the second quarter and in the last part of overtime in their Stanberry loss. But they more than made up for it on defense most of the year as they held 11 different opponents to under 50 points -- all wins. They were 6-10 when they allowed 50 or more points.
Worth County will miss three seniors that will be hard to replace. Alex Harmening was one of the leading ball stealers on the team and provided much of the energy for the Tigers. Wyatt McClain rarely scored, but was one of the best passers on the team, finding people open that nobody else could. And Brian Hall, who had not played ball before, developed into a valuable post player, coming off the bench to become one of the leading rebounders on the team. However, they will have a lot of horses coming back including leading scorers Bryce Ross and Todd Harding.
Bryce Ross has turned into one of the best cutters on the team and has developed a deadly 5-8 foot jumper. Todd Harding can create points as well as anyone in recent memory and his floater in the lane is a deadly weapon. Jordan Harding, an undersized post, turned into a scoring threat during the latter stages of the season while Eli Mullock has turned into a valuable role player. Dylan Kinsella, who figured into Coach Chris Healy's plans, only played one game due to his knee injury, but will be a force in the post and give the Tigers much-needed height if he comes back next year. Freshmen Travis Troutwine and Andrew Mullock both got to play; Troutwine is a 3-point shooting threat while Mullock is one of the scrappiest players on the team despite being one of the littlest. Cole Parman will provide some instant help on offense next year.
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