Worth County's junior high boys survived their first stiff challenge of the year, turning back South Nodaway 46-33 Thursday night. The Tigers had trouble in the early going controlling the mobile, athletic Longhorn squad as Taylar Freemyer was able to get to the rim with both his right and left hand, while Tanner Davis also did serious damage for South Nodaway. Worth County fell behind 6-2 in the early going before rallying back; Drake Simmons' guarded 3-pointer late in the first quarter put Worth County back in front 12-8.
From there, South Nodaway never caught Worth County in the second period, but they always kept it close. Freemyer's free throw made it 18-17 with 48.5 seconds left and they got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. But Worth County stole the ball and Bryant McCord, attempting his first 3-pointer all year, got nothing but net. The momentum-swinging play put the Tigers up 21-17.
Leading scorer Issac Alarcon was bottled up in the first half with only six points as Worth County had been trying unsuccessfully to shoot South Nodaway out of their zone, which they had done successfully all year. But Worth County adjusted in the second half, going to Issac in the post first; that adjustment paid off as he got a 3-point play right off the bat off a pass from McCord and a putback. On the other end, Worth County switched from their normal trapping zone to a man to man and held South Nodaway scoreless for the first four minutes of the third quarter. Worth County built up the lead to double digits at 31-19 on Caleb Parman's 3-pointer, but then consecutive 3-pointers from Tanner Davis brought it back to within 31-25 after three.
That opened up Taylar Freemyer to slice to the basket at will twice to make it 31-29 with 4:42 left. The question was how well Worth County would respond to finally having to play a full game, but they responded well. Issac Alarcon would not let the Tigers lose as he answered with a pair of free throws after grabbing an offensive board against the taller Longhorn players. He then added a three-point play after a pass from Caleb Parman and Drake Simmons, diversifying his game, added a layup off a steal and another off a drive to make it 40-29.
For some reason, South Nodaway had not went to their trapping zone all game against Worth County, but they went to it with immediate results, closing to within 40-33 off a Kole Kramer steal. But once again, Issac would not let the Tigers lose as he scored off a drive and Caleb Parman followed with a steal with 51 seconds left to make it 44-33. Issac then got a drive and highlight film reverse 360 and fell to the floor as the ball went in before South Nodaway made a meaningless bucket at the buzzer.
Issac, after being held to 6 in the first half, finished with 20. Drake Simmons had 10 and Caleb Parman 9. The Tigers also beat Jefferson at the Eagles Nest. Worth County fell behind 8-4 after one quarter and 12-6 early in the second before going on a 23-4 run to regain control, leading 29-16. They continued to pull away, outscoring Jefferson 20-2 in the third quarter.
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