BY JARED PORTER
Defense themed most of the night for Webb City as it limited a sharpshooting Nevada squad to just 30.6% shooting from the field and 18.5% from beyond the arc.
The Cardinals allowed just six points in both the first and third quarters, enabling them to jump out to a 17-6 advantage before eventually taking a 44-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
"They (Nevada) have had our number in the last couple of years, so we had a lot of motivation going into this game," Horn said. "We were just excited to finish one off against those guys. I think they have one of the best programs in Southwest Missouri.
"Defensively, it keyed everything. We limited their paint touches, and that led to some easy offense for us. I think things got downhill a little bit, and our guys started feeling good."
The Tigers battled back in the second quarter and made it a five-point game, 28-23, at halftime. But Webb City quickly reclaimed momentum out of the break and went on a 13-0 run in the first six minutes, 24 seconds of the third quarter.
A make on a contested layup attempt by Logan McNeley pulled Nevada to within 56-49 with a little under three minutes to go. However, Webb City again responded with a quick 6-0 burst to balloon the advantage to 13 points with about a minute remaining.
"We struggled with a combination of things offensively tonight," Nevada coach Shaun Gray said. "Just missed shots, missed 3s despite decent looks, especially early on. If we don't get a good look early in transition, there's nothing wrong at that point with running long possessions and making them guard for a little longer. So, No. 1, we just have to shoot better. And 2, we have to run more offense when the looks aren't there right away.
"We did make a couple runs to chip away at their lead. I'm really proud of our effort — that wasn't the issue. And that type of continued effort will pay off in the long run."
Tenton Hayes and Nickhai Howard paced the Webb City scoring with 17 points apiece.
Logan McNeley and Logan Applegate led Nevada with 22 and 18 points, respectively.
Joplin Globe 01/08/2021 (Used by permission)