Nevada varsity boys downed by Carthage

Saturday, January 10, 2015
Greg Kepler/Daily Mail/ Nevada senior Matthew Sommer goes airborne for a layup Thursday night.

Nevada Daily Mail

Rested from their Christmas break, the Nevada Tigers hosted the Carthage Tigers at Wynn Gymnasium Thursday night.

The freshman squad kicked things off by defeating the visitors 48-31. However, that luck didn't follow into the next game as the NHS junior varsity squad lost to Carthage by a score of 45-37. Following the JV game, the NHS varsity team fell 66-47.

In the varsity match-up, Nevada won the tip but neither team could score on their first possession. Finally, with just over a minute off the clock, 6-foot-4 freshman center Clay Gayman opened the scoring with a field goal giving Nevada a 2-0 advantage.

Carthage quickly answered and within 14 seconds, Junior Alex Derryberry drained the first of many 3-pointers the night would see. Brandon Barker would immediately counter with a field goal, as Nevada regained the lead at 4-3. Carthage's Garrett McAtee scored on a layup, and the lead again changed hands.

Gayman installed another deuce changing the lead back to Nevada's favor at 6-5. Nevada's guns then cooled as the hosts went three minutes without scoring while the visitors ran out to a 12-6 lead.

Nevada Junior Andrew Heathman got a deuce to fall and with just under a minute left in the first quarter, Barker hit pay dirt with a trey bringing Nevada to within four, at 15-11. Not to be outdone, Carthage senior Clay Saving, hit his second trey of the evening just before time expired in the first quarter, giving the visitors an 18-11 advantage.

Nevada came out shooting in the second quarter, but was unable to make up any ground. The teams traded buckets but Nevada couldn't get the ball to roll their way and watched as Carthage opened up a 30-23 halftime lead.

Nevada chipped away in the second half. A bucket each from Barker, Sommer, and Patrick Ferry closed the deficit to three at 32-29 with 5:49 showing. Ferry added another basket at 4:48, bringing the hosts to within three at 34-31. They then watched as Carthage scored eight unanswered points, extending their lead to 42-31 at 2:40 in the third quarter. Fifteen seconds later, Barker nailed another trey and then Sommer hit a field goal just before time expired, cutting the lead to 50-38, after three quarters of play.

Things didn't get any better for the hosts in the fourth stanza as Carthage scored the first eight points, leading Nevada 60-38 midway through the quarter. Nevada managed to score nine more points in the contest, including a steal and a layup by Tristan Smith, a deuce and two free throws from Sommer, and a trey from Anthony Fox. It wasn't enough as Carthage came away with the win.

Carthage's Alex Derryberry led all scorers with 21 points followed by Nevada's Brandon Barker who dropped in 17.

The loss snaps a two game winning streak, and drops Nevada to 3-7 overall.

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