'We had to earn every inch of it': Tigers finish close battle with Panthers, advance to Class 4 quarterfinals
· Yahoo Sports
AURORA, Mo. — It was a whale of a battle when Nevada and Forsyth high schools met Tuesday night in a Class 4 state sectional basketball contest at Aurora High School. The Tigers and Panthers fought down to the wire. It came down to Nevada’s last made shot attempt to carry it to a 53-46 win.
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With more than three minutes left to play, Forsyth took its first lead of the entire second half on a putback by Ben Boyer to make it 40-39. The crowd roared, and it didn’t let up for the next Nevada possession. The student section for the Panthers was deafening.
The Tigers worked the ball around, looking for an open shot. A loose ball was gathered by Kellen Braden after a lob pass to the rim actually hit off the rim. Once Braden collected it he saw his teammate, Mason Majors, open across the court and beyond the 3-point arc.
The sharpshooting lefty caught the pass and stepped into his shot.
“I just kind of pulled it. I didn’t really think about it. I felt good about it, so, I just let it fly,” Majors said.
And it flew. Right through the hoop. Majors was even fouled on the shot.
“That’s a shot in a moment that high school sports fans, guys sitting around for the rest of their lives, they’re going to talk about that,” Nevada head coach Shaun Gray said. “Right there in front of our bench. I think Andy Reid had that saying, ‘When things are grim, be the grim reaper.’ I mean, that’s as clutch as can be.”
“It was a big momentum change for us,” Forsyth head coach Kevin Smith said about his team taking its first lead of the second half. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way and it went their way. Sometimes, that’s how it goes. Sometimes, it’s an inch here, an inch there, and it didn’t work out for us.”
The basket gave the Tigers a 42-40 lead. Majors missed the free throw, but the defense got a stop on Forsyth’s next possession. The Tigers came back down to the other end and drew a foul and made two more free throws to keep momentum in their favor and carry that to victory.
“To follow that up with a stop at the other end was big,” Gray said.
Nevada (25-3) moves on to face Logan-Rogersville High School (26-3) in the quarterfinal round at 4 p.m. Saturday at Nixa High School. Forsyth ends its season with a 22-7 record.
Sean Simmons started the Tigers’ free-throw spree making both of his attempts. The team was 11 for 14 on free shots after Majors’ triple and didn’t make another field goal the rest of the game.
“That’s big time because you can’t trade one for three at this end or even one for two. You’ve gotta — more often than not — go two for two,” Gray said of his team’s free throws late.
Nevada’s senior point guard, Braden, controlled the offense and possession of the ball down the stretch by limiting turnovers.
“That’s their (Forsyth’s) game. They’re a big team and they want to get steals. Us being able to be strong with the ball and get to the line is a big part of the game,” Braden said.
The length and athleticism of the Panthers did make a difference at times, making it hard for Nevada to get passes through the defense. They were able to get hands on passes and create turnovers at times.
“We got behind a little bit, and then we did get some turnovers. We just couldn’t capitalize on those turnovers,” Smith said.
Gray noted his team had to remain poised in order to avoid turnovers against a team that had an athletic advantage over his team in terms of length and size.
Majors tallied 15 points in the first half to lead the Tigers going into halftime. The team held a 28-25 lead at that point. Majors finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. Braden added 15.
Forsyth was led by Griffin Coen’s 15 points and Chris Holbrook added 10.
The Tigers reached this point last season but fell in the sectional round to Center High School from Kansas City. They got to advance this time around.
“It’s a blessing. I get to play another game with my brothers. Senior year, so, it doesn’t last long,” Majors said.
“Yeah, it’s awesome. I love playing with this group of guys and go on one last ride,” Braden said.
During the game, there was a notable difference between sizes of cheerleading teams and student sections. Forsyth had a drive about 20 minutes shorter than Nevada did. The Tigers traveled from an hour and a half away and the Panthers just a little over an hour.
The student section of Forsyth might have tripled the number of people in Nevada’s student section and there were 18 Panther cheerleaders to the seven for the Tigers. Nevada had to fight through the noise of a larger cheer team and student section all game, especially when Forsyth took that fourth quarter lead.
“Hats off to Forsyth. That’s what high school sports are all about. … I thought our guys handled that extremely well. They (Forsyth) had that raucous atmosphere right behind their bench and it felt like a true road game for a bit,” Gray said. “I think that speaks to our guys’ toughness, their mental fortitude and their togetherness to be able to overcome that. I don’t think that’s any slight to our fans or the small but mighty student section that we had. I just really want to give kudos to Forsyth because they really did bring it and traveled well. Coach Smith does a great job, they had a heck of a season and it was a hard-fought victory. We had to earn every inch of it.”