Worth County's boys achieved a dubious distinction as they were swept by all three Gentry County teams at the Albany Tournament to start their season. Following their opening round loss to Stanberry Monday night, they were pitted against Albany on Tuesday night. But before the game, Worth County learned that they had lost Dylan Kinsella to an injury (knee) and would be forced to carry on without him. The addition or loss of players in the middle of a season can change the chemistry of a team and they need a few games to readjust. That turned out to be the case for Worth County, who fell 68-47 to Albany.
Defensively, the Tigers did some things right including the play of freshman Truman Moore, who did a good job of guarding Albany's Tyler Lupfer. But offensively, Worth County was out of control, trying to do way too many things on offense and trying to make passes that were not there. The Tigers dug themselves into a 9-2 hole, but got back to within 9-6 off a steal by Brevyn Ross in the first period. Moore continued to do a good job on Lupfer in the second quarter and the Tigers were drawing plenty of fouls on the Warriors, but it didn't matter as Worth County was making way too many crazy passes on offense, turning the period into a layup drill for Albany, which took a 35-18 lead into the break.
Worth County scored two quick baskets to start the second half, but then lost too many shooters on defense as Albany scored the next 10 points to go up 45-22. Worth County settled down and started running their plays on offense and Cole Parman buried a top of the key 3-pointer and Brevyn Ross got a steal to Andrew Mullock for a layup as Worth County cut it to 45-31. But Worth County was having trouble defending at the buzzer against Albany that night; they gave up a shot at the buzzer to end the third quarter to put Albany up 49-31 and killing any momentum they might have built up.Worth County tried to extend their defense to force turnovers to get back in the game, but that meant way too many easy points in the paint for Albany and the Tigers could come no closer than 18 the rest of the way.
The Tigers got three different career highs from people. Bryce Ross got a season high 18, stepping up and filling the void left by Kinsella. He added 2 blocks, 8 boards, and 3 steals. Brevyn Ross had a career high 12 points with 4 assists and 6 steals. Cole Parman had 11 and Truman Moore 4, also career highs. The boys had 28 turnovers and had only six offensive boards in the game.
It wouldn't get any easier for the Tigers against King City as the Wildkats had everybody back from last year. The Tigers continued their rash of crazy passes that got them in trouble against Albany and Stanberry and dug themselves into another hole against King City. But with the present group having played together and getting a game under their belts, they were able to do a better job of staying in the game against King City. But in the end, the experience of the King City squad told and the Wildkats were able to pull away for a 58-51 win to deny Worth County the consolation prize.
In last year's heartbreaking loss at King City, Worth County had a hard time guarding 6'5" John Spiking. He was a factor in Friday night's game, but Worth County was able to do a much better job of containing him. Sometimes, Truman Moore guarded him; at other times, Worth County went to a 2-3 where they doubled him with Josh Warner and Cole Parman. Even little-used Lane Craven took a turn at guarding him with Warner at the end of the third quarter. But King City was jumping passes at will as they threatened to turn it into a layup drill by the second quarter, going up 15-5. But then Worth County made an adjustment to get back into the game, switching to a full court press and getting some steals to come back to within one at 19-18 before King City buried a shot at the top of the key to make it 21-18. Bryce Ross did all he could on defense, taking a charge.
King City twice jumped out in front in the third quarter and Worth County fought back to tie both times. King City got four straight points without Worth County getting a possession to go up 26-22 as they fouled underneath after King City took a shot, but Brevyn Ross got a steal to tie it at 26. Once again King City went ahead, this time aided by the officials; on an inbounds play for Worth County, a King City player pushed Brevyn Ross out of bounds. It is a violation for a player to leave the playing area on an inbounds situation; however, not one of the three officials saw the push that was visible to everyone else in the stands. That led to a King City basket that put them up 31-26. But once again Worth County fought back, this time tying it three times at 34, 36, and 38 to close the quarter.
But then Truman Moore picked up his fourth foul trying to guard Spiking and then Worth County's propensity for making crazy passes on offense bit them at the worst possible time as two bad passes led to King City buckets that helped put them up 48-42. Worth County's inexperience showed as they let King City take 30-40 seconds off the clock with one minute left in the game before fouling to try to get the ball back.
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