Saturday, December 4, 2021

Junior High Tigers Down King City, Go On to Win Home Tourney

Worth County’s Junior High Boys overcame foul trouble and a tough King City squad to win in the first round of their home Junior High Tournament 46-28 Tuesday night, November 30th. They went on to beat Albany 52-25 in the championship round to win the tournament. The Tigers ended their season with just one loss, to Maryville in the championship round of the Northeast Nodaway Tournament.

For a long time, Worth County had been the only squad to beat King City before the Wildkats hit a late slump and lost games to Maysville and Nodaway Valley. But they came in determined to avenge their 46-16 loss to the Tigers earlier in the year. The game was tied at 2 and 6 before free throws by Caleb New and a drive down the right side from Cole Ruby put the Tigers on top. Josiah Schellhorn’s inside shot cut it to 10-8, but New hit another three to make it 13-8 after one. Hayden Sanders took a charge on defense late in the period to prevent a response.

King City played a tight man to man defense, but they could not prevent Worth County from lobbing the ball into Bo Collins in the second quarter as the lead grew to 19-10. But then Collins picked up his second and third fouls; many of Worth County’s fouls were on the offensive end during rebounding situations, giving King City some free points down the stretch of the first half. The purple shirts climbed back in it, cutting it to 22-15 at the break.

The Wildkats got a 3-pointer from Graham Medsker to cut it to 24-18, but then Worth County locked down and got six straight stops on defense as they built their lead back up to 33-18, getting it into Collins again and getting a 3-pointer from Brayden Stevens. The foul trouble started to mount again as Collins and Sanders picked up their fourth and King City closed to within 33-22 before Caleb New hit a 3-pointer and Cole Ruby scored off a New steal to make it 38-22 again.

Collins fouled out to start the fourth quarter and King City worked the offensive glass at will to get back to within 40-26, but then Worth County started working the clock and getting good looks as they built their lead back up again. Franklynn Hoff scored off a drive and Brayden Stevens hit a dagger three to make it 45-26 at the 2:42 mark of the game. 

Bo Collins had 18 points. Caleb New had 12, Brayden Stevens 6, Franklynn Hoff and Cole Ruby 4, and Hayden Sanders 2.

Bo Collins had 2 blocks and Brayden Stevens had 1.

Bo Collins had 11 boards. Franklynn Hoff had 8, playing one of his best games of the year. Brayden Stevens had 4, Hayden Sanders, Caleb New, and Cole Ruby had 2, and Andrew Griffin had 1.

Caleb New had 7 assists. Brayden Stevens had 4, Hayden Sanders 3, Bo Collins 2, and Cole Ruby and Franklynn Hoff 1 each.

Brayden Stevens had 9 tips. Franklynn Hoff had 7, Hayden Sanders and Cole Ruby had 2, while Bo Collins, Caleb New, and Wyatt Hill had 1 each.

Bo Collins and Franklynn Hoff had 4 steals each. Brayden Stevens and Caleb New had 3 each, while Hayden Sanders had 1.


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