BY DEREK SHORE

The matchup between two of the area's finest point guards was worth the price of admission.

Nickhai Howard of Webb City and Javon Grant of Pittsburg finished with 19 points and 33 points, respectively. Howard registered his third double-double of the season with 12 rebounds while Grant finished with 30 or more points for the second time this season.

"Two great players," Webb City coach Jason Horn said. "I thought Nickhai played with really good pace. His leadership over four years has really grown. Both guys are super talented. Both guys are shifty and quick with the ball in their hands. It's almost like Nickhai is a throwback with his midrange game. You don't see many guys with that anymore, but he is deadly with it. He's a guy that can score at all three levels."

The Cardinals' well-balanced scoring attack lifted them to an 84-54 victory over the Purple Dragons (0-3) on Saturday afternoon at the Cardinal Dome in the third game of the 4-States Challenge.

"I know Javon real well, and he doesn't really care how many points he has at the end of the night," Pittsburg coach Jordan Woods said. "He wants to make sure we get a W. We will be back Monday working at it. I know he doesn't care what he did. He just wants to win at the end of the night. I know he will be upset about that and ready to work again."

Webb City (4-1) featured a trio of players who scored in double figures, including Cohl Vaden with 16 and Mekhi Garrard with 15.

"They do a good job of finding each other in open spots, whether it is on drive and kicks or dump downs in traffic," Horn said. "They do a good job of drawing the second defender, the help defender. When we are able to do that, it gives our guys wide-open looks. We were able to capitalize on those. They are not worriedabout who scores. They are worried about what we scored. Their selflessness has put us where we are at at this point."

The Cardinals scored early and often to get

rolling offensively, keyed by Howard's eight points to put Webb City on top 14-6 with three minutes left in the first quarter. Luke Brumit knocked down a midrange jumper to extend it to 19-7 at 1:54 mark before Grant buried the first of his four 3s to make it 19-10.

But the Cardinals captured all the game's momentum in the second quarter, outscoring Pittsburg 25-13 to take a 44-23 lead at halftime. Howard capped a dominant quarter from Webb City with a 3 from at least 25 feet out.

Both teams traded scores through the first six minutes of the third quarter before the Cardinals erupted with eight unanswered points. That allowed Webb City to build a 30-point lead in the fourth quarter and achieve a running clock the rest of the way. "I thought our guys did a really good job of playing with a lot of energy," Horn said. "Anytime you are playing one of the local schools, that has a little added incentive to your guys. Coming off a game Friday night (at Bentonville (Arkansas) West), I was really pleased with their effort, their attitude. I thought we were a step quicker to the loose balls, and we did a good job rebounding the basketball."

Woods said Pittsburg can learn and improve from this type of contest.

"I thought we weren't focused early on in the game and didn't make the plays we needed to," the first-year head coach said. "That just put us into a bad situation the entire game right there. Hopefully, we learn from that and realize every possession matters. It doesn't matter what part of the game — we have to be ready to go from there."