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Senior Night blues: Tigers stung by Yellowjackets in closing seconds, 49-48
A Senior Night storybook ending was not meant to be for Carter Swearingen and the Nevada Tiger boys varsity basketball team Friday evening at Wynn Gym.
Trailing by two with 20 seconds remaining in regulation against the visiting Kansas City Center Yellowjackets, Nevada senior guard Swearingen released a three that bounced high off the rim before eventually finding its way through the hoop, as the dramatic triple handed the Tigers a 48-47 advantage.
As the ensuing possession unfolded, Yellowjacket point guard Damien Burnett drove the baseline with the clock ticking down. Burnett was met by Nevada sophomore guard Logan Applegate, who attempted to strip the ball away but was whistled for a foul with two ticks showing on the clock.
Burnett stepped to the charity stripe and sank both free throws, with his only two points off the contest putting Center in front, 49-48.
Needing to go the length of the court, the Tigers were first able to advance to the ball to half-court with a nice pass, and get a quick timeout with 1.2 second remaining.
Out of the timeout sophomore guard Lane McNeley caught the inbounds pass and was able to get off an NBA-range three that banged hard off the backboard, then caromed off the front of the rim, as Center held on for a heart-stopping victory.
First half
Nevada was without their leading rebounder, and third leading scorer, Dalton Gayman. Gayman, the Tigers’ most physical inside presence, was serving a one-game suspension for a technical foul assessed in Nevada’s previous game against El Dorado Springs.
Despite being short-handed Nevada came out hot, as reserve center Peyton Denney drilled his first career 3-pointer, helping the Tigers to a quick 6-0 advantage. Nevada eventually held a 12-9 lead at the conclusion of the first, and a slim 25-23 advantage at the break.
Center then pushed ahead in the third, outscoring Nevada 16-10 in the quarter for a 39-35 lead entering the fourth.
Center stretched the lead to six early in the fourth, but a pair of Logan McNeley 3-balls erased the deficit. The Yellowjackets, however, edged back in front, and Nevada’s former West Central Conference rivals were able to hold on for the narrow victory.
“I’m really proud of the effort and energy our guys came out with, and I’m really proud of our guys,” said a somber Nevada head coach Shaun Gray during his postgame radio interview.
“You wouldn’t expect much less from a Nevada-Center game.”
Nevada (17-7) was paced by senior wing forward Matt Thompson’s team-high 13 points, while Applegate chipped in 11 and Swearingen, nine. Center forward Keyren Spiller tallied a game-high 15 points.
“I think both programs would agree that we bring some of the best effort and intensity out of one-another,” said Gray, as Center leads the all-time series 8-3. Prior to Friday’s thriller Nevada had taken three of the previous four against Center.
Gray discussed the final play, in which Swearingen was inbounding from directly in front of Center’s bench.
“Lane set a back-screen, and then popped up to about the center circle,” began Gray. “Lane caught it, took a dribble or two, and let if fly.”
As far as the whistle on Applegate, Gray indicated he didn’t agree with the call, but refused to blame officiating for the loss.
“I thought we played a heck of a defensive possession,” said Gray during his postgame interview, of the closing seconds of regulation. “From my vantage-point, it looked like a pretty clean play on the basketball.”
Summed up Gray: “We don’t have control over the officiating.”
Up next
The Class 4 District 13 basketball tournament in Pleasant Hill. In opening-round action Tuesday night the third-seeded Tigers match-up with No. 6 Harrisonville. A victory over struggling Harrisonville would send Nevada to the semis, where the No. 2 seed Yellowjackets (13-7) await on Thursday.