Tigers look to bounce back on Friday night

Nevada's Joseph Ferry battles for a rebound with Colgan's Zach Smith on Tuesday.

By Jason Peake

Daily Mail Sports Editor

All season long, the Nevada High School boys basketball team has shown the ability to bounce back after a tough loss.

Alex Payne plays defense against Colgan. Payne drew a charge on the play. Nevada hosts Mac County on Friday.

They'll get another chance to do just that on Friday night.

Coming off a disappointing 62-46 loss at Pittsburg Colgan on Tuesday night, Nevada hosts former conference rival McDonald County at Wynn Gymnasium on Friday for Courtwarming. The varsity boys contest should start at approximately 8 p.m.

"I'm sure Mac County will see our (Colgan) score and they'll come to our place ready to play," Nevada Coach John McNeley said. "I think we'll be ready to play on Friday night. But that will come 72 hours after we weren't ready to play."

On Tuesday night, the Tigers were sluggish for the first few quarters of play and a late rally was too little, too late.

Colgan edged McDonald County 49-46 in December in a game the Mustangs may have let slip away.

Either way, the Mustangs will present a challenge for the Tigers.

"They have a really good point guard (Miguel Morales) and we have to pay a lot of attention to him," McNeley said. "And they have some good athletes inside (Chance Buttram and Jordan Wells). They're strong and they can score in the paint."

Morales scored 20 points per game at the Neosho Holiday Classic, earning all-tourney honors.

Mac County earned a 57-50 win over Carl Junction on Tuesday.

Silas Smith has led Nevada in scoring in two of the last three games.

Girls look to end skid

Nevada's girls basketball team will look to end a four-game losing streak on Friday night against McDonald County. The varsity girls game starts at 6:30 p.m.

Nevada fell to Bolivar 56-44 on Monday and with the loss, the Tigers are now 8-5 on the season.

McDonald County's girls are now 4-7 on the season after a 46-40 win over Cassville on Monday. A freshman, Preslea Reece, led the Mustangs with 16 points in Monday's win.

Of course, the Tigers have three freshmen playing prominent roles, too, as Mikayla Bartlett, Morgan McNeley and Rilie Good are varsity regulars.

Friday's schedule

There are three games at NHS and one game at Nevada Middle School on Friday night. The JV girls play at 5 at NHS, followed by the varsity girls. The varsity boys will take the court after the varsity girls.

The JV boys play at 6:15 at NMS.

Wrestling team heads to Carthage

The Nevada High School wrestling team will be in for a battle tonight when they travel to Carthage. The meet starts at 6 p.m.

Carthage's Tigers are currently ranked eighth in Class 3. Kenny Brown's Carthage lineup features four ranked wrestlers -- Gage Gartner (eighth at 120), Taylor Bogle (sixth at 126), Trevor Feagans (third at 132), and Cody Ellis (sixth at 220).

Nevada has three wrestlers ranked in Class 2 -- Slade Stiles (fourth at 120), Tanner Charles (second at 126), and Zach Shepherd (ninth at 145). All three have led the way for Devin White's Tigers all season. Stiles is now 16-3, Charles is undefeated at 27-0 and Shepherd is now 28-3 this season.

By the way, NHS is hosting a JV wrestling tourney on Saturday. The event starts at 8:30 a.m.

Swim team update

The NHS girls swim team will compete at the Carthage Invitational on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.