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Tigers edged in Classic third-place game
With both teams content to keep the pace slow, it appeared, from the outset, that this one that could go to the wire.
It did just that as the Kansas City Southeast Knights held on for a 37-34 win over the Nevada Tigers in the third-place game of the Nevada Tiger Classic on Saturday.
"We wanted the win the most," said Nevada coach John McNeley, "and it's just frustrating for our kids."
On the other bench, Southeast' first-year coach Derek Howard said, "I knew tonight's game would be tough. We believe in ourselves and what we're doing and so does Nevada. I've heard a lot of great things (about them) and they're all true."
Freshman Bryan Campbell, the Tigers leading scorer with 16, pulled Nevada to within one at 31-30 with 33 seconds left. But a free throw by Christopher Garrison and two by Ollie Outley lifted the Knights to a 34-30 edge with about 20 seconds to go.
An unfortunate, for Nevada, bounce on Garrison's second free-throw attempt allowed the Knights to retain an important possession. With four Tigers and only one Knight on the lane, the miss caromed long to the lone Southeast player. That possession resulted in senior leader Alex Hardin's disqualification by fouls and sent Outley to the line where he converted the two back-breaking free throws.
Two Campbell free throws cut the lead to 34-32. The Tigers missed a chance to tie when junior point-guard Ben Wilson missed the front end of a one-and-one with about 17 seconds left.
Southeast's Tim Smith hit one of two from the charity stripe with 15 seconds to go, before Eric Atkinson's putback again narrowed the margin to one at 35-34 with 4.4 ticks on the clock.
Nevada immediately fouled Smith on the inbounds pass and the senior stepped to the line and nailed both free throws.
The Tigers' Jim Fay had a pretty good look on a last-second 3-pointer from the top of the key, but it missed right as the horn sounded.
Perhaps the most entertaining play of the game, was a shot block by Nevada's 6-5 junior post player Harrison Gage. Gage elevated off from about six feet away to slap the Southeast shot deep into the stands.
"He's gotten to where he can do some things," said McNeley of the raw transfer Gage. "He's a kid that's still kind of coming to grips with what we're trying to do and we've thrown a lot at him in a short period of time when we bumped him up (to varsity) and started extending his minutes a little bit."
Southeast coach Howard also proved to be quite entertaining. The upbeat, positive Howard was constantly hyping his team, working the officials.
"Our kids have a lot of enthusiasm and it starts top to down," he said. "I have to come ready, I've got to be excited and it filters down to all the kids."
Added Howard, on Southeast' highest finish ever in the Classic, "If you had told me, coming in, that we would get two (wins), I would have been thrilled."
Southeast competes in Kansas City's Interscholastic League, which features 2003 state runner-up Paseo and currently-ranked Lincoln Prep. The Knights improved to 6-7, matching their win total of last season.
All-tournament selection Richard Dickerson paced the Knights with 14 points.
The Tigers, who fell to 5-12, enter the eight-team Bolivar Tournament today as the No. 7 seed, facing No. 2 Lebanon.
Nevada Daily Mail
Willard's boys basketball squad completed its run to a third straight Nevada Classic title with a 61-43 win over El Dorado Springs on Saturday.
El Dorado stayed in contention through three quarters, trailing by only 38-33 as the third quarter ended. But Willard turned it up with a fourth-quarter spurt in which they outscored the Bulldogs 23-10.
Three Tigers reached double-figure scoring, led by all-tournament selection Tyler Ryerson with 17. Andy Barrett and Chris Forrest tallied 14 and 13, respectively.
Matt Snowden, also an all-tournament choice, led El Dorado with 17.