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Tigers eliminated in three-overtime district loss
By Larry Lewis
OAK GROVE, Mo. -- It took a three-overtime thriller to oust the plucky Nevada Tigers from the MSHSAA Class 4, District 13 basketball tournament at Oak Grove on Tuesday.
The No. 4-seed Tigers were eliminated 54-52 by No. 5 Odessa on a pair of free throws with less than two seconds to go in the third extra period.
With the score knotted at 52 and about a minute and a half left, Nevada ran the clock down to 10 seconds, then called a timeout to set up the potential game-winning final play.
They never got a chance to run it.
In a scramble with two Tigers near midcourt, Odessa's Brady Madsen came out of the pack with the ball and headed downcourt where he was fouled to prevent a breakaway basket.
Madsen, although iced with a timeout, calmly sank two free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining to nail the coffin on a valiant Tiger effort and a season, as well.
In the back-and-forth contest, Nevada had its share of crucial plays and clutch players.
Junior point-guard Ben Wilson, who led Nevada with 17 points, scored 10 of the final 11 points in regulation to lift the Tigers to a 37-36 lead.
Following a missed Odessa 3-point attempt and a Nevada timeout, the Tigers' Eric Atkinson, 40 feet from the in-bound action, was "unintentionally" intentionally fouled. Just a 40 percent shooter from the charity stripe, Atkinson literally willed his first offering into the basket with a bank shot. On his second attempt, Nevada's only senior starter Alex Hardin created a play typical of the hustling Tigers. The 6-1 Hardin leaped between two taller Bulldogs on the lane to tap the miss to Wilson at the top of the key and retain possession.
Nevada, however, was unable to capitalize on a free-throw opportunity and Odessa took possession with 10 seconds to go. At the four-second mark, the Bulldogs' Jake Thompson found a wide-open lane for a lay-in to tie the score at 38 and send the contest into overtime.
Atkinson's tremendous second-effort on an offensive rebound putback sent the Tigers up 40-38, but Odessa responded with four consecutive points to retake the lead at 42-40.
With seven seconds left, freshman Bryan Campbell answered with a dazzling spin move to the hoop and finished it with a soft kiss off the glass to tie the game at 42 and facilitate overtime No. 2.
The Tigers drew first blood in the period on a Campbell jumper. Odessa's 6-2 run shot them back in control at 48-45 with 42.5 ticks on the clock.
On its subsequent possession, Nevada executed the offense to perfection to get Campbell a little space for a trey from the left corner, which he swished to again deadlock the game at 48 and send it into overtime No. 3.
Obviously, the final horn wasn't a sweet sound to the Tigers, but their effort and intensity throughout the evening was pure harmony.
Nevada coach John McNeley put it best.
"Life isn't always fair," he said. "The team that played the hardest and wanted it the most didn't come out on top."
Nevada (7-19) received scoring from five players, all starters. Behind Wilson's game-high 17, Campbell tallied 13, Hardin 11, Taylor Rainey six and Atkinson five.
John P. Jones led Odessa with 15, while Jordan Hodges and Thompson added 12 each. Madsen's game-winning free throws gave him nine.