BY JASON PEAKE
A year from now, Dalton Gayman and Terrell Kabala will be teammates at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith.
On Saturday night, the two squared off on the hardwood. And for now, Gayman has the upper hand in the rivalry with his future comrade.
Gayman's Nevada Tigers defeated City Cardinals 64-52 in the boys championship game of the Kansas Army National Guard Invitational at Frontenac High School. "Right now, I have the bragging rights, but I know Terrell is going to come at me when we get to college," Gayman said.
"And we've always had a pretty big rivalry with Webb City. We've been playing against them since middle school, so it's nice to beat them."
Ranked 10th in Class 4 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Nevada (14-2) captured the tourney's crown for the second straight year.
"I'm really proud of these guys and their effort," Nevada coach Shaun Gray said. "We've seen what Webb City is able to do offensively and how fast they want to play. Our guys made sure this game was played at our pace. For these guys to slow them down the way they were able to do and to defend our title ... we're just really proud of them and we're proud of how hard they played. Hats off to our guys."
A 6-foot-6 senior forward, Gayman poured in 29 points, making eight field goals and 12-of-15 free throws.
"Gayman is a tough matchup," Webb City coach Jason Horn said. "And he got us into foul trouble, and he was a big difference-maker. He's tough."
Gayman, who made four 2-point field goals and three treys, was named the tourney's Most Valuable Player.
Gray noted his standout does much more than score.
"Dalton played so hard on both ends of the floor," Gray said. "The way he contested shots and rebounded is just as impressive as the scoring."
Two others reached double figures for the Tigers, as junior guard Logan Applegate scored 13 and backcourt mate Lane McNeley added 11.
Nevada's five starters played the entire game.
"Our kids are tough," Gray said. "They have a lot of grit and mental toughness. It says a lot about their endurance."
Three players scored in double figures for Webb City (6-7), as junior Nickhai Howard had 16, sophomore Cohl Vaden added 15 and Kabala chipped in 12.
There were five lead changes in the back-andforth first quarter, but Nevada took a 17-13 lead into the second period.
Closing the first half on a 10-4 burst, Nevada led 3021 at the break. The Tigers scored the first four points of the third quarter to go up 34-21. By then, trading hoops the rest of the way didn't do the Cardinals much good.
Gayman scored 12 of Nevada's 15 fourth-quarter points to help seal the win.
"My teammates did a really good job of finding me; I was hitting my 3s and I got to the line pretty well," Gayman said.
Simply put, the Cardinals were unable to match the efficiency or output of Friday's 100-54 win over Frontenac.
"I thought the game turned when we got into foul trouble in the first half," Horn said, noting Gary Clinton, Tanner Rogers and Mekhi Garrard's minutes were limited because of fouls. "And we weren't getting good looks offensively. We live on getting to the paint and either kicking it out or finishing at the rim. There was too much dribbling and taking tough shots tonight. We didn't execute. Nevada did a good job of moving the ball around, and we didn't."
Horn noted his team is still a work in progress.
"We played well in two of the three games here," Horn said. "We can continue to get better, but I think we're better than we were two weeks ago. I think we'll be where we need to be when the district tournament starts."
Joplin Globe 01/26/2020 (Used by permission)