Worth County started off well, but then fell behind against Mound City in the second half and then had to claw back to force overtime. But then Caleb New carried the Tigers in the extra period, scoring all four points as Worth County came away with the 51-47 win in the first round on Tuesday, February 20th.
The Tigers had been in a slump without Bo Collins in the lineup; without him, they were out of sync defensively in their loss to South Holt, they were out of sync offensively in their squeaker win against East Atchison, and they couldn’t buy a board in the Maysville loss. But when Bo returned for the Mound City game, Worth County looked immediately back in sync. Cannon Fletcher scored five early points, Tyler New was finding driving lanes open again, and Caleb New added a 3-pointer as they built up a 14-7 lead after one.
But slumps have a way of going away hard, and sure enough, Mound City showed why they are one of the most dangerous teams to face come district time. They had graduated Tony Osborn and all of the horses who made them a basketball powerhouse from two years ago, but they got a new coach in Alan Ottman who has shown that he can get a lot of mileage out of his teams come district time, regardless of how they struggled in the regular season. Last year, Ottman and the Panthers threw a big scare into Platte Valley before they came away with a nine point win, and this year was no different.
This year’s bunch saw a lot of role players step up into scoring threats and their two main players, Keaton Zembles and Chauncey Brown, step into even bigger roles come district time. Creyton Roup, who had been a role player most of the year, suddenly stepped up and hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter to bring Mound City back to within 20-17 at the 2:57 mark of the second. Tyler New and Karson Briner put the Tigers back up 24-17, only for Zembles to cut the Panther deficit down to 24-19 by the half.
A lot of times, the underdog team puts up a good fight for a half only for the favorite to regroup at halftime and pull away. But this time, another role player, Cole Gillenwater, stepped up and hit a 3-pointer to start the third quarter and the purple shirts rallied around him as Zembles scored on a drive and Roup went coast to coast to put Mound City in front 26-24.
With Zembles locking down on Tyler New and everybody else having trouble with the huge Panther front line, Rowen Derr scored off a pair of steals, Jacob Hall scored off a putback, and Zembles hit two free throws before Tyler New finally stopped the bleeding with a reverse layup to end the third and cut the Tiger deficit to 34-31.
But the early part of the fourth quarter belonged to the Panthers, as Chauncey Brown, normally a driver, broke out a stepback three to start the period. Karson Briner got a putback, and Worth County started putting on a press, but nothing worked at first as Brown scored a guarded three at the 5:58 mark to make it 40-33.
But then the pressure started to pay off as Tyler New hit a guarded three from the top of the key, added another shot with 4:07, and then Karson Briner knocked one down from the high post with purple shirts surrounding Tyler New with 3:37 left, tying the game. Brown cut inside and scored to untie it and make it 42-40, only for Tyler New to drive and score, tying it back up at 42. Gillenwater hit his second triple of the game, only for Tyler New to tie it back up with a 3-pointer with 1:12 left.
Brown, who had the hot hand all game for Mound City, finally missed a runner with 55 seconds left and Worth County froze the ball, looking for the last shot. Mound City elected to use up their fouls, trying to force a turnover on the inbounds or force Worth County to use time off the clock. Finally, Caleb New missed a shot and Jacob Hall got the board for Mound City. But he threw it away with 3.4 seconds left and Worth County had a chance to win in regulation. But Tyler New’s heavily contested shot at the buzzer was off the mark.
In the extra period, both teams traded misses, but Caleb New got the first of two offensive boards in the period and put it back in to make it 47-45 with 3:09 left. After Worth County got a couple of stops on defense, they ran the clock from 2:09 to 53 seconds left before Mound City used their fourth foul.
Worth County nearly committed a backcourt violation, but continued to run the clock down until Tyler New hit Caleb for a wide open three that he missed with 35 seconds left. But he followed his shot and grabbed his own miss, and the possession continued.
Worth County ran the clock all the way down to 20 seconds as Mound City was playing for the turnover. Finally, Caleb New, who wanted the ball in his hands, was fouled and made both free throws to put Worth County up 51-47.
Mound City rushed it up the floor, but missed two desperation threes before Worth County was able to run out the clock.
Tyler New had 26 points for the game. Karson Briner had 8, Caleb New 7, Cannon Fletcher 5, Hayden Sanders 2, and Bo Collins 1.
Caleb New and Bo Collins had 1 block.
Karson Briner had a career high 15 boards. Tyler New had 4, Bo Collins 3, Hayden Sanders and Caleb New 2, and Cole Ruby 1.
Tyler New and Hayden Sanders had 3 assists. Caleb New and Bo Collins had 2, and Cole Ruby and Karson Briner 1.
Karson Briner had 5 tips. Tyler New had 4, Hayden Sanders 2, and Cole Ruby, Bo Collins, and Caleb New had 1.
Karson Briner and Caleb New had 2 steals. Cannon Fletcher, Hayden Sanders, and Cole Ruby had 1.
For the girls, they traded blow for blow with Nodaway Valley for the first four minutes of the game, leading 7-5 and building on their ability to play good teams tough down the stretch. But then someone missed a boxout on Ava Graham, who got a putback for the Thunder. The problem with the Tigers all year was letting such plays snowball, and it came back to bite them at the worst possible time. When the dust was settled, Nodaway Valley went on a 28-0 run to lead 33-7 and the rout was on. The Thunder went on to pull away for a 54-16 win. Kynah Steele had 9 points for the Tigers. Kambree Briner had 5, and Kristen Tracy 2.
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