PREP BASKETBALL: 62nd Carthage Invitational

Seneca hands Tigers 53-51 loss in season opener

A couple of nail-biting games highlighted the final day of first-round action Tuesday night in the 62nd annual Carthage Invitational Boys Basketball Tournament.

In the first game, seventh-seeded Neosho gave second-seeded McDonald County a scare taking the Mustangs to overtime. However, McDonald County prevailed to win 63-59.

In the second game, fourth-seeded Seneca needed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to turn back the scrappy fifth-seeded Carthage Tigers 53-51.

On Thursday, Carthage will play Nevada at 6 p.m. and Neosho will play Monett at 7:30 p.m. Both games are in the consolation semifinal bracket. On Friday, Seneca will face top-seeded Aurora at 6 p.m. and McDonald County will face third-seeded Joplin at 7:30 p.m.

Seneca 53, Carthage 51
Carthage led Seneca 51-48 with 38 seconds remaining in the contest. After Seneca’s Toby Roelfsema cut the margin to just one with a pair of free throws, the Indians got the ball back with 18 seconds remaining to win the game. With the Carthage defense sagging to prevent an easy basket under the goal, Alex Scott got the ball in the left corner and drained a three to put the game on ice.

“We wanted to get the ball into either Roelfsema’s or Nick’s (Chasten) hands,”said Seneca Coach Will King, “but Alex was open and he has taken that shot before in practice. He did a great job of focusing.”

Carthage had at least three chances to extend its lead in the final seconds, but missed free throws thwarted Carthage’s changes.

“We just didn’t finish the game and that is going to be a problem for us all year,” said Carthage Coach Steve Ray. “The boys battled hard and gave a great effort. In fact, the game felt like we were in late February. We just could not finish the ball game and that is something we will have to work on.”

Carthage got in a hole early, but battled back late in the second quarter to take a 24-18 lead into the locker room.

But Seneca came storming back in the second half —  scoring the first nine points to take a 27-24 lead. Six of those nine points were canned by Roelfsema. Seneca led 37-31 at the end of the third quarter, but King was not comfortable.

“I was never comfortable on the bench,” said King. “Carthage is a great ball team and is coached well by Steve Ray. I knew what Carthage was capable of doing.”

After trailing 44-37, Carthage tied the game and eventually took the lead – 47-46 – on a 3-pointer by Brown.

Chasten gave the Indians a brief 48-47 lead, but a 2-pointer by Ethan Wiggin and a pair of free throws gave the Indians the 51-48 margin.

Two players scored in double figures for the Tigers – Cody Caster with 13 points and Samuelson with 12.

For Seneca, Roelfsema ended the night with 18, followed by Chasten with 13 and Scott with 11.
The game was the season-opener for both teams.

McDonald County 63, Neosho 59
With just one second remaining in regulation, McDonald County’s Misael Morales hit a jumper from 15 feet out to tie the game, sending the contest into overtime.

In the overtime period, McDonald County outscored Neosho 8-4 to win the game.
Those eight points, however, came from an 8-for-8 performance at the free-throw line.

“We practice so much on our free throws in practice, and it showed tonight,” said McDonald County Coach Mike Austin. “We do a lot of our conditioning at the free throw line.”

Neosho’s Nick Morrison sank a free throw with just eight seconds remaining in the game to give the Wildcats a 53-55 lead. But the Wildcats found out the hard way that eight seconds is a long time in basketball.

McDonald County led throughout the game, leading 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, 31-27 at the half and 44-37 after three quarters.

McDonald County was led in scoring by Tyler Shaver with 15 points and Josh Pottorff with 14 points.

For Neosho, Corey Crandall ended the night with 15 points, followed by Morrison with 12, Michael Lowe with 11 and Alex Wise with 10.

The game was the season-opener for both teams.