Utilizing their overall team depth, the Cardinals slowly pulled away for a convincing win.

"We fed off our defense, and we executed pretty well offensively in stretches," Webb City coach Jason Horn said. "I think it was a good team effort. Now we should be the No. 1 seed for the district tournament, and that's where we wanted to be."

One night before district seeds are officially announced, the Cardinals improved to 5-0 against Class 4 District 12 foes, as Webb City has earned wins over Carl Junction, Cassville, Monett, McDonald County and Neosho.

The Cardinals had five players score in double figures, as Mekhi Garrard led the way with 15 points, Terrell Kabala added 11 and Gary Clinton, Tanner Rogers and Cohl Vaden all contributed 10 points.

Nickhai Howard contributed eight points and four assists. Kabala handed out five assists, while Brumit pulled down eight rebounds.

Webb City (12-8, 4-2 COC) hit 26-of-46 shots (56%), including 7-of-19 3-pointers. The Cardinals outreboundedthe Wildcats 34-24.

Landon Austin scored a game-high 18 points for Neosho (12-10, 1-6), while Dalton Brodie added 11 and Mason Gammons chipped in eight. The Wildcats made 17-of-56 field goal attempts (30%), with 4-of-18 from long range.

Webb City led 15-9 after the opening frame and 26-19 at halftime. After outscoring the hosts 25-17 in the third period, Webb City was in control with a 51-36 advantage. Rogers buried a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 59-38.

"We executed really well in stretches, but then we would have spurts where we got loose and careless with the ball and they made us pay," Horn said. "We wanted to cover their shooters, and I thought we did a good job of that. Terrell got us going offensively. He got downhill and did a good job of dumping the ball off. Gary was finishing well around the basket and Tanner got going in the second half."

"There was a point where it felt like they were scoring two for every one of our points," Wildcats coach Zane Culp said. "It wasn't 10 all at once, but they would gain two or three on us when we were already down six or eight. It was hard to withstand that. They have a lot of depth, and we play about five, six or seven guys. We've already got two more wins than we did last year, so overall, we just have to keep plugging away."

Joplin Globe 02/19/2020 (Used by permission)