Tiger Boys Escape Dogfight with Mustangs

Worth County’s boys survived by the skin of their teeth against North Nodaway Wednesday night at the Stanberry Tournament to survive elimination. 

The Tigers emerged from a brutal stretch with two straight wins, 60-48 over Stanberry and 46-34 over North Harrison. They played a good game against Albany in the first round of the Stanberry Tournament, but lost 40-29. They were pitted against North Nodaway.

The Mustangs came out of the break and fell hard to Rock Port, 66-32. But they got Aydan Blackford back, and he scored 23 points in a 64-36 win over DeKalb to avenge an earlier loss. They fell to state ranked Platte Valley 71-30, but they saw Wednesday’s game as a winnable game for them.

Worth County controlled the boards early as they built an 8-4 lead early. Three different Tigers scored as John Galanakis got a putback, Tanner Ridge hit a 3-pointer, and Tyler New hit another. But Aydan Blackford did all he could to keep North Nodaway in the game, and his 3-pointer cut the Mustang deficit to 14-13 by the end of the quarter.

From there on out, North Nodaway was dominating the boards, and it was all Tyler New could do to keep the Tigers afloat. Worth County didn’t have anyone to match up with Damian Dailey, who got better on the boards as the night progressed. The game was tied at 14, 16, and 18 before Mason Richardson’s 3-pointer put North Nodaway in front 21-18 at the half. 

Worth County put on a press early in the second half and they fought back to take the lead at 25-21 as Tyler New had seven straight. But Damian Dailey scored after a high-low pass from Ethan Fry and Jeremiah Dobbins scored off a drive to tie it up again. The game was tied at 25 and then 27 going into the fourth quarter.

Tyler New started off with three straight steals to start the fourth quarter to put the Tigers in front 33-27. But just as it looked like he would take over the game, North Nodaway put on a press and fought back; they only had three fouls, so they could afford to be very aggressive on defense. Tanner Ridge’s 3-pointer gave Worth County its biggest lead at 36-29 with 3:55 left, but Levi Cassavaugh’s tip caromed right to Aydan Blackford, who scored to break the run. Mason Richardson’s 3-pointer with 2:04 left cut it to 36-34.

North Nodaway got a stop, but Damian Dailey missed an inside shot with 1:31 left and Worth County started running down the clock. They ran down the clock from 1:31 all the way down to 23.8 seconds before North Nodaway could get Worth County on the line. 

Worth County missed a 1-1, but Tyler New got the offensive board and was fouled with 18 seconds. He missed a 1-1, and North Nodaway had a chance to tie or win, but Damian Dailey was called for a moving screen with 5.3 seconds left. The ensuing inbounds pass was nearly stolen, but John Galanakis came up with it and was fouled with 3.4 seconds left. He missed the 1-1 and Damian Dailey got the defensive board and got a quick outlet to Aydan Blackford. He rushed it up the floor, but his contested 3-pointer, which would have won it, rimmed out.

For Worth County, Tyler New had 24 points, Tanner Ridge 6, and John Galanakis, Karson Briner, and Levi Cassavaugh had 2 each. 

Karson Briner had 10 boards for Worth County. Levi Cassavaugh had 6, John Galanakis 5, Tyler New 3, and Tanner Ridge and Franklynn Hoff 1.

For North Nodaway, Aydan Blackford had 15, Mason Richardson 8, Damian Dailey 7, and Ethan Fry and Jeremiah Dobbins 2 each.

Damian Dailey had 12 boards. Aydan Blackford had 4, Mason Richardson 3, Ethan Fry and Owen Martin 2, and Jeremiah Dobbins and Brice Trimble 1.

But Tiger coach Les New was not satisfied, focusing on what he saw as the lack of rebounding. Coaches have a way of having a 6th sense, and sure enough, Worth County could not buy a board against a King City squad that was even taller than North Nodaway. They could not survive a bad 16-0 third quarter in the consolation game and fell 56-50 to the Wildkats. 

Neither Worth County nor North Nodaway’s girls could solve Stanberry, which has emerged as one of the stingiest defensive teams in the area. Worth County’s girls lost 31-22 to Stanberry after losing 45-28 to King City. North Nodaway lost in the consolation game 46-33.