Mustangs Net District Tourney Win On Monday
Brandon McAdams scored only two points in the game, but the senior’s basket with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter were probably the most important points of his high school career.
With the Mustangs trailing 39-38, McAdams drove the middle of the Cassville defense and hit a running layup over Jarrod Wallace to put McDonald County ahead for good in the Mustangs’ 47-43 win Tuesday night in the opening round of the Missouri Class 4 District 10 Basketball Tournament at MCHS.
“I thought we played well and competed hard,” said coach Kyle Fields. “We had a hard time scoring early, but we were able to battle through that and stuck with our game plan. We got the ball to the high post and our bigs (6-6 Devon Aubrey and 6-5 Cooper Reece) played well. We were able to hit some shots late, especially some key free throws.”
After McAdams put the Mustangs ahead, Blake Gravette stretched McDonald County’s lead to three with a short jumper before Cassville’s Collin Pearman cut the margin to one with 50 seconds left.
But Boston Dowd and Devon Aubrey hit two free throws each in the final 45 seconds to put the Mustangs up 46-41 with 23.8 seconds left. Dowd added a free throw with 13 seconds before
Pearman scored an uncontested basket at the buzzer.
Cassville jumped out to a 10-2 lead before McDonald County the margin to 12-8 at the end of the first quarter. The teams traded baskets in the second quarter with the Wildcats taking a 19-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Cassville led 28- 22 midway through the third period before Reece hit a three pointer and a short jumper followed a basket by Gravette to give McDonald County a 29-28 lead with 1: 57 left in the third period.
Cassville battled back to take a 32-30 lead with 5.3 seconds left in the period, but Reece hit an off- balance trey at the buzzer to put the Mustangs on top 33- 32 entering the fourth quarter.
The game was tied or the lead changed hands seven times in the fourth quarter before McAdams hit what proved to be the game winner with less than two minutes left.
“We had some good possessions and the kids performed well late in the game,” Fields said. “We got some big defensive stops and we took care of the ball when we needed to.”
Reece finished with 18 points and Aubrey 11 to lead McDonald County. Gravette added eight points followed by Dowd with eight and McAdams with two.
Pearman led Cassville with 19 points.
The Mustangs, 4-23 on the season, advance to the tournament semifinals where they will face top-seeded Aurora at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.
“Aurora is a good team and they shoot it really well,” Fields said. “We are going to have to guard the three-point line a lot better than we have been.”
Carl Junction
The Carl Junction Bulldogs led from the opening basket to claim a 59-50 win on Feb. 23 to close out the regular season for both teams.
The Bulldogs led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and stretched the margin to 23-12 at halftime. McDonald County closed to 27-20 midway through the third period before Carl Junction closed out the period with a 12-5 run to take a 39-25 lead into the fourth period.
Reece scored 14 points, McAdams 13 and Gravette had 12 to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs were Dowd with five points, Aubrey four and Tim Shields two.
Trent Smith, a 6-7 sophomore, led Carl Junction with 25 points.
McDonald Co u n ty claimed a 45- 43 win in the junior varsity game behind 15 points from Grant Cooper. Rounding out the scoring for McDonald County were Zach Woods with nine points, Kirby Townsend eight, Cole DelosSantos and Shields four each, Andrew Landers three and Bucky Harrell two.
Carl Junction took a 46-34 win in the freshman game.
Cade Smith led the Mustangs with eight points followed by Tae- Shawn Alik and Ben Mora with six each, Kevin Martinez, Damian Materne and Colliar Gottfried four each and Koby McAlister two.
Aurora
The Aurora Houn Dogs assured themselves a three-way tie (with Lamar and Mount Vernon) for the Big 8 Conference championship with a 72- 49 win over the Mustangs on Feb. 21 at Aurora High School.
Aurora took a 13-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretched the margin to 32- 16 at halftime before outscoring the Mustangs 40-33 in the second half.
McAdams scored 16 points and Reece 15 to lead McDonald County followed by Gravette and Cooper six each, Aubrey four and Rustan Lett two.
Aurora’s Matt Miller scored 27 points to lead all scorers.
McDonald Co u n ty claimed a 39- 34 win in the junior varsity game. Cooper led the Mustangs with 15 points followed by DelosSantos with six points, Woods, Landers, Harrell and Shields four each and Saul Garcia two.
The Mustangs added a 37-21 win in the freshman game.
Alik scored 15 points and Smith 10 to lead the Mustangs followed by Walker Keith with four points and Mora, McAlister, Gottfried and John Howard two each.