Ryan McClellan's Steals Carry Tiger Boys to Fifth Straight Win; Tigers Crash Albany Courtwarming

Worth County's boys continued their winning ways Friday night as they picked up their fifth straight win and crashed Albany's courtwarming, winning 54-34 as they pulled away in the second half. There were two stretches during the game where it looked like it would be a long night for Worth County. Worth County had some early turnovers and dug themselves into an 8-2 hole in the first few minutes of the game, something that they can't afford to do against the top teams in the area. Luckily, Albany's lead was shakier than it looked as they got into some early foul trouble as Nathan McClain, who had hurt the Tigers in the first meeting between the two clubs, had two and Lane Watson followed him to the bench later in the period. Worth County was following their game plan against the smaller Warrior lineup, but they were not finishing.

It looked like it would be 10-2 as Watson jumped a pass and went in for a layup, but Mason Hawk came out of nowhere to stuff his layup try and the bleeding stopped and Drake Kinsella later converted a 3-point play following a pass from Isaac Alarcon to make it 8-5.

With neither team able to take control of the game, Mason Hawk finally dropped an 18-footer over Seth Cline at the halftime buzzer to put Worth County up 18-17, but it was Albany who came out of the break fired up as they scored a triple from McClain and a backdoor cut from Jake Ellis to go up 21-17. But then Coach Bryce Schafer, who had been switching back and forth from zone to man, switched to man and Ryan McClellan jumped a pass to stop the bleeding and cut Albany's lead in half.
All of a sudden, Worth County started putting on a clinic on man to man play as Albany started throwing the ball away and Worth County finally got some shots to drop. Mason Hawk's skip pass to Cade Allee for a triple put Worth County in front for good at 22-21 and was followed by another play when Albany gambled for a steal and lost, leaving Cade alone from midrange to make it 24-21. Isaac Alarcon split two defenders twice to put Worth County up 28-21 before Cline hit two free throws to make it 28-23.

Worth County switched to a full court man to man press to start the fourth and Albany had all the trouble in the world bringing it up after successfully breaking their trapping zone and half court trap earlier in the game. Ryan McClellan all of a sudden carried the team on his back as he had three steals and converted them into four free throws and a layup, all off the press. Isaac Alarcon added a 3-pointer and Brevyn Ross, who had not scored all night, got loose with a backdoor pass from Drake Kinsella as Worth County broke open a low-scoring game to go up 39-26.

McClellan, who used up most of his fouls during Worth County's game-deciding run, finally fouled out and Seth Bennett's free throws made it 39-28, but Drake Simmons took on three defenders and converted a 3-point play to get the ball rolling again. Albany hit some free throws down the stretch, but Worth County continued to pull away as Brevyn Ross got loose late after having been bottled up all night; Ben Badell added a breakaway after Brevyn Ross aired one out deep and added a give and go from Isaac Alarcon; Drake Kinsella added a pair of free throws for Worth County.

Ryan McClellan scored 10 points for the Tigers. Cade Allee and Isaac Alarcon had 9 as Isaac showed his double digit performance against Nodaway-Holt was no fluke. Brevyn Ross had 8, Drake Kinsella and Drake Simmons had 5, and Ben Badell and Mason Hawk had 4 each. Drake Simmons had 3 assists. Brevyn Ross and Isaac Alarcon each had 2, while Ryan McClellan, Caleb Parman, Mason Hawk, Drake Kinsella, and Ben Badell all had 1 each. Mason Hawk had two blocks. Ryan McClellan had 5 steals, all in the second half; Mason Hawk had 2 while Brevyn Ross, Drake Kinsella, Drake Simmons, and Cade Allee all had 1. Ben Badell took a charge on defense.