Tigers down KC Center en route to 20th victory

The Nevada Tigers are legitimate contenders

For anyone who doubted the Nevada boys' basketball team prior to Friday night, it might be time to rethink that as the Tigers notched one of the biggest victories in program history Friday night with a 71-67 West Central Conference triumph over Center High in Kansas City.

It was Nevada's 15th consecutive victory and, more importantly, cemented their status among the elite teams of Missouri Class 4 basketball.

Nevada (20-3 overall, 7-3 WCC) led most of the evening, including by 11 points midway through the fourth quarter. Center then charged back, as 6-foot-3 play-making guard Franck Kamgain heated up from long-range.

After Kamgain had connected on three fourth-quarter treys during an extended run, Center found itself trailing 70-67 and with possession near the end of regulation.

With 12 seconds on the clock and Nevada senior point guard Matt Sommer defending, Kamgain fired away from beyond the arc, but his top-of-the-key 3-point attempt was off-target. Tigers' forward Clay Gayman corralled the rebound and was quickly fouled and sent to the charity stripe.

Gayman stepped to the line and connected on 1-of-2, securing the exhilarating road victory. Gayman's epic night concluded with a career-high 43 points, including a whopping 27 free throw makes (27-of-32 FT). The 27 free throw makes in a single game ties for the second most in the history of Missouri prep basketball, behind only the record 29.

The loss drops Center to 18-5 overall and 10-1 in WCC-play.

"This is the biggest win since I've been here, that's for sure," said third-year Nevada head coach Shaun Gray, who also served one season as an NHS assistant coach. "It's a testament to these kids. It's a testament to the fact that they've grown together as a team."

"Gray continued: "The way we played together as a team and executed, this is a really special team. Getting a win like this shows how much they've come together as a group. This was our best performance of the year for most of the game."

Gray said his squad was successful in getting the ball to Gayman in the high post, where he then did the majority of his damage driving to the basket and absorbing contact.

"Laterally, they couldn't stay in front of Clay," Gray noted of Center's frontline defenders. "He did a good job of getting their bigs into foul trouble. And when they played in front of him in the high post, Matt was able to lob it over the top of the defense to Clay, where he finished at the basket."

The Tigers have been competitive over the past couple of seasons with Center, but the difference Friday night was Nevada's ability to control the tempo of the game while executing in the half-court set.

"Some of the games in the past, we played (Center's) style," Gray said. "We would get into a track meet with them, and eventually we just ran out of gas. Tonight, we were able to control the tempo while playing our style of basketball."

Gray said the veteran leadership Nevada received throughout the game was incalculable.

"We showed maturity as a group," he said. "We have four returning starters from a season ago. Matt finished with 13 points, but more importantly, handled Center's pressure defense really well. A younger version of Matthew would not have finished as strong as he did tonight. He was very strong with it and made good decisions with it."

Another Nevada senior, guard Myles McNeley played a key role in the victory.

"Myles hit two big third quarter 3-pointers for us," Gray said. "He hit a three to give us the lead, and also hit a three to tie the game (after Center had regained the lead)."

Gray said he was also thoroughly impressed with McNeley's lock-down defense on Center co-captain Rachaad White. White and Kamgain are Center's top scoring options.

"Myles held (White) to seven points," Gray said. "That was big for us."

Even though Kamgain finished the night with a team-high 32 points, Gray said he was pleased with the defense Sommer played on him.

"It was a hard-earned 32 points," Gray said.

"Our forwards, Braeden Hinton, Dalton Gayman, Patrick Ferry and Hunter Mason ---- they played the triangle zone really well," Gray continued. "Our overall defensive effort was strong, and it was probably led by Myles shutting down White."

Sommer agreed with his head coach that the victory was a total team effort.

"I don't think you can just point at one guy and say 'he won it,"' the senior guard said. "Everybody asserted themselves early."

Sommer said the gameplan was to slow the pace.

"We tried to dictate the pace of the game," he said. "Going in, we knew that we weren't going to be able to outrun those guys. We knew that if we played our game we would put ourselves in a position to win. And I think we did that to the best of our ability."

Sommer said another key was Nevada's ability to feed Gayman the ball from the perimeter.

"When we play inside-out basketball we're at our best," he said.