By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — Steven Tackett’s put-back with six seconds left lifted the Carl Junction Bulldogs in a 51-49 thriller against the Republic Tigers on Thursday night.
Before the game, the Tigers stormed onto the court donning their traditional red and white striped warm ups, like the Harlem Globetrotters. But they couldn’t come up with the trick shot they needed to tie at the end.
After Tackett’s basket, the Tigers rushed the ball down court in time for Matt Featheringill, 6-foot-4 senior, to shoot an off-balance turnaround jumper at the buzzer, but the shot didn’t come close.
“The first thing was Steven kept playing until the play was over and did a good job to get the tip-in,” Bulldogs coach Lance Robbins said. “Then we did a good job defensively on the other end to make sure they didn’t get off a good shot.”
The Bulldogs nearly let the game slip away after squandering a 12-point lead (39-27) to open the fourth quarter.
The Tigers went on an 11-2 run to open the fourth, and cut the lead to 41-38 with 4:16 left. They later tied the game at 49 when Ryan Montgomery sank a runner in the paint with 18 seconds left.
“We played pretty good in the first half,” Tackett said. “We just had to keep our composure (at the end) in order to get the win.”
On paper, the game seemed likely to be a high scoring adventure. However, Tigers coach Denny McHenry had a formula for why that didn’t happen.
“We want to average a point per possession,” McHenry said. “In the first half we scored 16 points on 30 possessions, so that’s half of what we wanted to get.
“Had we done what we wanted to do things would have been much different. It wasn’t about them winning it at the end as much as it was about us losing it in the beginning.”
Both teams struggled from the floor throughout the game.
“It was kind of frustrating,” Robbins said. “It’s kind of easy to have a letdown on defense when your shots aren’t falling, and I thought that’s kind of what happened to us there for awhile (in the second half).”
The bench proved to be key for the Bulldogs as a total of nine players scored at least three points. Carl Junction, however, didn’t have a shooter score in double figures.
“It’s huge when we can bring guys off the bench and there is not much of a let up,” Robbins said. “It makes it easier for our guys to play when they know they can come off the court and someone capable will step in there and fill their shoes.”
Austin Osborn led Carl Junction with nine points. Joseph Fauvergue turned in eight and Justin Garretson added seven.
Featheringill paced the Tigers with 10.
The Bulldogs improved to 3-2 entering tonight’s game at Springfield Hillcrest.
