Varsity boys drop tough home contest

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Senior Cole Ogle leaps for a rebound over Bolivar's Casey Pool. --photos by Chassedi Cooper/Daily Mail

The Nevada Tigers varsity boys' basketball team suffered their 11th loss of the year as they fell to the Bolivar Liberators by a final score of 61-53 Tuesday night.

The game turned out to be a tough all-around contest for both sides, but Nevada's defensive struggles turned out to be the difference maker. "In the first half, we played stressed and weren't hard to guard," head coach John McNeley said. "It was a physical game and we've got to do better."

The Tigers may have been easy to guard in the first half, but good rebounding and even better shooting gave Nevada a good starting point in the contest. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the period, the Tigers and Liberators found themselves deadlocked at 11-11.

The roles reversed in the second quarter as Bolivar's offense was able to find a steady rhythm and shot very well and the Tigers struggled on their end through the early minutes. Strong defensive play and rebounding for both teams kept the game close, however, and the Tigers eventually found themselves still within striking distance, down 21-18 as they headed to the locker room at the break.

Dalton Kelley seemed to be the emerging star of the game as he put up 12 points in the opening half for Bolivar, while Nevada had no double-digit scorers in the half.

The third quarter started in much the same way as the second, as the Nevada offense continued to struggle, seemingly unable to hit any shots. Bolivar's continued rebounding prowess and even stronger defensive play allowed them to start to open up the game a bit as they outscored the Tigers 17-11 to take a 38-29 lead into the game's final eight minutes.

Senior Ben Fisher shoots a layup in Tuesday night's game against the Bolivar Liberators. --photo by Chassedi Cooper/Daily Mail

Both offenses gained some substantial life in the final period, putting up a combined 47 points. Ross Wolfe became the star of Nevada's offense as he put up nine points in the fourth quarter alone, second only to Preston Guiot's 12 for Bolivar.

"Ross has continued to improve," McNeley said. " Even though he has some trouble handling the physicality of the game, he does really well."

That major offensive spark proved to be not enough for Nevada, however, as they lost two major scoring threats late in the game. With 1:57 to go, Ben Fisher's departure due to fouls met with a very vocal and unseemly response by Bolivar fans, and was quickly followed by the departure of Parker Richardson just 51 seconds later with his fifth foul.

Richardson still finished out the game as the leading scorer for the Tigers with 17 points, followed closely by Wolfe with 16. For Bolivar, Guiot showed a dominant performance on the night, as he finished out the game with 27 points to lead all scorers.

"He's difficult to guard, difficult to match up with," McNeley said of Guiot. "He's very good with the ball in his hands."

With that loss, the Tigers fall to 2-11 on the season and hope to get back on the winning track Friday as they face the Wildcats of Harrisonville. In other action on the night, The Tigers' JV won a very hard-fought contest over Bolivar by a final, overtime score of 35-32 in a very low-scoring affair, and Nevada's varsity girls fell to Neosho 57-34.

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