Eagles topple Aurora

December 02, 2007 12:38 am

— By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Joplin High School boys basketball team, thanks to controlling the fourth quarter, were rewarded handsomely on Saturday night.
Second-seeded Joplin won the 61st Carthage Tournament by beating fifth-seeded Aurora 62-54.
The Eagles, outscoring the Houn’ Dawgs 7-1 in the first two minutes of the fourth, built a 12-point lead at 51-39 and held off the determined Houn’ Dawgs.
Nevada, fueled by senior guard Jordan Kerbs’ 28 points, beat McDonald County 49-44 for third place in a clash of Southwest Conference teams.
The Big 8 Conference bested the Southwest In earlier games.
Monett outlasted Carthage 60-54 in overtime for consolation and Seneca defeated Neosho 46-35 for seventh place.
Monett, beating the Tigers for the second time this season, survived a 35-point salvo by 6-foot-5 senior Jason Adams. The Cubs almost had an individual answer as 6-2 junior Kirk Moore poured in 26.
Aurora, which trailed 26-19 at the half, rallied in the third to take a 37-36 lead late in the period.
But Joplin answered in the fourth behind a balanced attack to go on its decisive surge in the foul-plagued contest.
“We played pretty well,” Joplin coach Tim Spiers said. “It was a physical game.
“Sure, we made some mistakes against their defensive pressure,” Spiers said. “But we were able to have some success with layups off the backside of their press. Hopefully, we were able to capitalize more than Aurora.
“We got a great game from (6-foot-1 senior) Scott Williams,” Spiers said. “He played solid defense, hit four clutch free throws in a row in the fourth quarter and had a big 3 in the first quarter.
“Scott was a scoring leader with 17 points. Phillip Davis (6-6 sophomore), with senior Harrison Menke in foul trouble, responded with 11 points,” Spiers said.
“This is a great win with about everyone — if not all of the players — making a positive contribution,” Spiers said.
Said Aurora coach Darin Meinders: “The bottom line was we missed a lot of free throws. We didn’t have our legs under us after the effort last night. Still, we gave a good effort.”
Aurora received 19 points from 6-3 junior Ryan Carmichael with 13 coming in the final quarter. Waylon Doty, a rugged 6-4 sophomore, added 12 off the bench.
Joplin also received 10 points from 6-2 senior Matt Harrison and eight, in another relief performance, from 6-1 senior Ja’Cobe Britt.
There were 57 fouls called. Aurora missed 21 free throws and the Eagles 17. But Williams was 4-of-4 in the closing seconds to give Joplin breathing room.