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Nevada boys win Courtwarming game
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
As the Nevada Tigers basketball team made its return to Wynn Gymnasium Friday night, everyone knew it was going to be a special night as the Tigers were hosting the El Dorado Springs Bulldogs for Courtwarming Night. On top of the coronation of 2014 Courtwarming Queen Nikiya Feezell, the Tigers also played host to the induction of former Nevada High School multi-sport star Bill Jones into the school's Wall of Fame.
Jones competed in football, basketball and track during his high school career and may be best remembered for kicking a last-second field goal in the 1975 Class 3 football semifinals to push the Tigers into the state championship game. Jones' stellar numbers as a member of the Nevada Tigers football squad led to him being named to the All-Southwest Conference and All-District teams in 1977.
He once held the Tiger basketball team's single-game scoring record of 47 points, which he scored in a game against Carl Junction during the 1976-77 season and finished second in the discus competition at the Missouri State Track meet in 1977. He was a member of the All-Southwest Conference team in 1976 and 1977, as well as a 1977 All-District selection in basketball, but his most prestigious honor came when he was named a High School All-American for track in 1977.
Jones also excelled in the classroom and was a fixture on the honor roll, as well as being a member of the National Honor Society.
Though those two events certainly would have been more than enough to create a lively environment inside Wynn Gymnasium, that wasn't all. After Feezell's coronation, former Nevada High School athletic director Kevin McKinley led a presentation of a photo and autographed basketball to McNeley from a number of current and former players and coaches from the Tigers basketball program, as well as a plaque commemorating McNeley's accomplishments as Tigers head coach.
"None of this is about me," a teary-eyed McNeley said, upon acceptance of the items presented. to him. "It's about these guys standing here with me."
At the conclusion of that presentation ceremony, McNeley's squad went to work, ultimately having no trouble dispatching the Bulldogs by a final score of 72-45.
In a contest in which just about everything went right for the Tigers, it was clear who had the advantage, right from the start. Despite one of the best quarters the Tigers have opened a game with this season, however, the Bulldogs simply refused to go away and went into the second quarter down by just seven, at 20-13.
The Tigers kept the pressure on for the remainder of the half, however, putting up another 20 points in the second quarter and holding El Dorado Springs to just 10 to take a 40-23 lead into the third quarter.
That lead simply continued to grow as the two squads returned to the floor after the break. Though McNeley's squad never did enact the running clock, the Tigers came close on a number of occasions, leading by as much as 28 points in the second half on the way to the 27-point victory.
Though it was clear by the end of the half who would come out on top in the contest, the Tigers weren't without their issues. Most notable of those was the fact that despite having a 17-point lead at halftime, the Tigers found themselves in significant foul trouble.
By the time the half came to a close, a total of four Tigers had already been tagged for multiple fouls. Most heavily affected by those foul troubles were Kalen Bradley and Keegan Bell, who each finished the half with three fouls, while Devion Leavell and Connor Harbit each had two.
That ultimately didn't turn out to be nearly as much of an issue as it could have been in the second half, as the Tigers had no trouble maintaining their lead without any further trouble. By the time all was said and done, just one player fouled out of the game and that wasn't a Nevada player at all, but El Dorado Springs sophomore Jakob Studer.
Not only was Leavell able to overcome his early foul troubles, but he turned out to have one of his most productive nights of the season, missing just one field goal on his way to tying for the team lead with 15 points. Right there with him was Brandon Barker, whose four 3-pointers in the contest helped propel him to 15 points of his own.
Joining Leavell and Barker in double figures on the night were Easton Mitchell and Matthew Sommer, who each finished with 13. Keegan Bell added seven, while Bradley contributed five and Tristan Smith and Bryant McKinley rounded out the scoring for the Tigers with two apiece.
For El Dorado Springs, Richard Lyness led the offensive effort with 13 points.
The Tigers finished the night shooting 16 percent better than the Bulldogs from the field, but ultimately couldn't turn that into an advantage on the boards. Despite shooting 50 percent to just 34 percent for El Dorado Springs, pulled in just three more rebounds on the night, beating El Dorado Springs in that category, 30-27.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 6-14 on the season and will be in action just three more times before beginning district tournament play. The first of those three remaining contests is scheduled for Saturday, when the Tigers take on Lebanon in the make-up for the Clinton Tournament's third-place game.
Tipoff in that contest is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., at Southwest Baptist University, in Bolivar, Mo.