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Tiger sharpshooters help stave off El Do upset bid
Myles McNeley's lights out long-range shooting rescued the Nevada Tigers Thursday night as the visiting El Dorado Springs Bulldogs looked to spring a major upset.
Trailing 48-42 with 2:29 remaining in regulation, the Tigers clawed back and forced overtime, hammering El Do in the extra session en route to a 67-57 victory.
The non-conference win improves Nevada to 14-8 overall.
With 2:09 to go in the fourth quarter and El Do in possession leading by six, senior guard Lance Molz drew a technical foul after slamming the ball off the court. Molz was upset after being called for a travel near mid-court. However, the travel was overruled and changed to a foul on Nevada point guard Matthew Sommer.
Molz stepped to the line, missing the front-end of a 1-and-1. At the other end, Sommer knocked down both charities awarded off the technical foul, trimming the Bulldogs lead to 48-44.
"That just goes to show how much composure plays into things," Tigers head coach Shaun Gray said of the big swing in momentum. "One official had a travel and the other official had a foul ---- but the kid lost his composure a little bit, not being sure of what the call was. And that's always going to hurt your team, especially in a big game like this."
With 1:43 on the clock, and the Tigers back in possession, McNeley was fouled on a 3-point attempt from the left-corner. McNeley was off-target on the first free throw, but calmly knocked down the second and third attempts, cutting the Bulldogs lead to 48-46.
El Do upped the lead to three at 49-46 after Spencer Young knocked down 1-of-2 free throws with 1:33 to play in regulation.
The Bulldogs three-point advantage was short-lived, as McNeley struck again, sinking a trey from the right-wing with 1:16 remaining to knot the score at 49 apiece ---- sending the electrified Wynn Gymnasium crowd and Tiger student section into a frenzy.
"Myles is a great shooter," Gray said of the junior two-guard. "He has been ever since I coached him as a freshman. The big thing with shooters is confidence. Everyone on our team and Myles included, thinks the ball is going in when he shoots it ---- and that's a powerful thing."
Looking to take the lead, El Do first wound some clock before a Riley Boyd out-of-control drive to the basket and into heavy traffic ---- resulted in the ball flying wide of the backboard and out of bounds, handing possession back to Nevada with 27.9 ticks on the clock.
Gray then called a timeout to devise the game-winning play.
"The plan was to get the ball in and run the clock down to five seconds," Gray explained. "We were going to try to get a double-screen for Matthew. We were in the (free throw) bonus, so we didn't think they would pressure very much. They pressured a little more than we anticipated."
With under 10 seconds on the clock, Sommer drove hard to the left-side of the lane, getting all the way to the rim, but missing as the shot was hotly contested by El Do forward Ben Middleton.
"Matt had a five second count on him, and ended up having to go at about seven seconds," Gray said, "which was a little earlier than we wanted. He got it deep in the lane, but it just didn't fall."
Middleton came down with the rebound, advancing the ball to the Tigers 3-point line before calling a timeout with 3.1 seconds left. A three-quarters court heave on the inbounds pass was caught by Spencer Young, who air-balled a contested 8-foot jumper. Middleton however, plucked the ball out of the air and attempted to lay it in as time expired. Middleton was off-target, sending the game into overtime.
Nevada center Clay Gayman opened the extra session with a reverse lay-up to hand the Tigers a 51-49 lead. A Lance Smith baseline jumper quickly evened the score at 51.
From there, Nevada took off, beginning with a Sommer three from the right-wing to put Nevada up three. After a defensive stop, Sommer found McNeley alone on the left-wing. McNeley of course, knocked down the triple putting the Tigers on top 57-51. The dagger came at the 1:34 mark, when Sommer drilled another triple, putting the Tigers in front 60-51, as they coasted to victory.
Sommer and Gayman shared game-high honors with 19 points apiece, while McNeley dropped in four 3-pointers en route to 14 points.
In addition, Nevada was 19-of-24 from the charity stripe on the night.