McDonald County suffered its second upset in three games of the 68th Annual Carthage Invitational in the consolation finals Saturday afternoon, dropping a 65-51 decision to Neosho.
McDonald County, seeded second entering the tournament, fell behind 18-7 at the end of the first period and trailed 25-11 at intermission. The Mustangs scored as nearly many points in the fourth quarter (25) as they had in the previous three quarters (26).
Daton Aubrey scored 25 points and Drew Harmon 10 to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring were Austin Grotts with six points, Jake Wood five, Dagan Stites and Max Dill with two each and Damian Monsalvo one.
McDonald County falls to 2-2 entering the Mustangs Big 8 Conference opener Friday night against Monett at Monett High School.
Nevada
The guard tandem of Harmon and Dill combined for 42 points, including 24 on three-pointers, to lead McDonald County to a 63-46 win over Nevada in the consolation bracket semifinals held Dec. 4.
McDonald County used a 16-5 advantage in the third quarter to stretch a 29-26 halftime lead to a 14-point margin entering the fourth quarter.
Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs were Aubrey, Keith and Stites with four points each, Collin Enssle three and Wood, Grotts and Cody Whillock two each.
Nevada, coached by former McDonald County assistant Shawn Gray, was led by Brandon Barker with 16 points.
Carthage
The Carthage Tigers overcame two-point halftime deficit to upset McDonald County 50-43 Dec. 2 in the opening round of the tournament.
McDonald County led 11-4 after the first quarter and 18-16 at intermission, but Carthage used a 12-9 advantage to take a 28-27 lead into the fourth quarter. Carthage's Jesse Martini scored the first basket of the final period to push the lead to three and the Tigers never trailed in the final eight minutes.
Alex Derryberry, a 5-11 junior guard, keyed the Carthage second half turnaround. After being held scoreless in the first half, Derryberry scored all 12 of Carthage's third quarter points and added seven more in the fourth quarter. His 19 points led all scorers while Cole Orshelen added 11 points for the Tigers.
Harmon and Keith led the Mustangs with 12 points each. Rounding out the scoring were Dill with nine points, Aubrey four and Grotts, Wood and Monsalvo two each.
Sports on 12/11/2014