Joplin isn't Paris and Anderson isn't London, but last week was still the best and worst of times for the McDonald County High School boys basketball team.
Against Joplin on Feb. 9, McDonald County scored 28 points in the first quarter and cruised to 72-46 win.
Three days later when the Mustangs hosted Providence Academy of Rogers, Ark., McDonald County didn't scored until the 1:41 mark of the first quarter and trailed 11-0 by the time they did.
Providence went on to ride its fast start for a 51-48 win Feb. 12 in front of a packed house on a rare Thursday night homecoming night at MCHS.
"It was an unbelievable atmosphere," said coach Trent Barratt. "Our program really wants to thank the community, our student body and the faculty and staff for coming out and supporting us. It was a heck of a basketball atmosphere. We are trying to create expectations of winning and the community has really gotten behind us. We scheduled a tough opponent on homecoming instead of somebody local and I think it was good for our kids and our program."
Providence, a private Christian school founded in 2004, led 12-6 at the end of the first quarter before the Mustangs cut the lead to 20-18 at halftime.
The Patriots extended the lead to 32-23 at the end of the third quarter when Mitchell Gutherie hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the period.
But the Mustangs began chipping away at the lead to start the fourth quarter. Austin Grotts began the period with an old-fashioned three-point play before two buckets by Drew Harmon and a three-pointer by Daton Aubrey cut the lead to 36-33 with 3:30 left in the game.
After Lukas Durasas hit a pair of free throws, Harmon drove the lane, made the basket, got fouled and hit the free throw on consecutive trips down the floor to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game at 39-38 with 2:21 left.
But Providence responded to the challenge. Durasas hit a free throw and Garrett Greenway made a key three-pointer before to put the Patriots back ahead for good. Aubrey cut the lead to 42-41 on a pair of charities, but Providence went on a 9-0 run to pull away. Durasas scored eight of the nine points during the run.
Baskets by Dagan Stites and Aubrey and a three-pointer by Harmon cut the lead to 51-48 with two seconds left, but the Mustangs had no time outs left and Providence was able to let the clock run out without bringing the ball inbounds after Harmon's trey.
"We haven't faced a team outside of Jefferson City that really matched up with that size," Barratt said. "They go 6-5, 6-6, 6-10 across the front line of their 1-3-1 zone and it makes it hard to pass over and get quality shots. Their height really bothered us early. I was really proud of our kids guts and they showed a real ability to handle adversity. To come back and take the lead late, I was really proud of their effort. We just came up a little short."
Harmon finished with 21 points to lead the Mustangs while Aubrey, who along with Grotts battled foul trouble for most of the game, finished with nine. Rounding out the scoring were Stites with four points, Grotts, Kole Keith and Max Dill three each and Jake Wood two.
Durasas led Providence with 32 points.
McDonald County falls to 13-9, 4-1 in the Big 8 Conference. The Mustangs game against hosting Lamar on Feb. 16 at MCHS was postponed. The Mustangs take a break until Feb. 24 when they travel to Aurora before returning home Feb. 26 to host Carl Junction to close out the regular season.
Joplin
McDonald County made four three-pointers in the first quarter on the way to taking a 28-10 advantage at the end of the first period in a 72-46 win Feb. 9 at Joplin High School. The Mustangs led 39-20 at intermission and 54-31 at the end of three quarters.
"We shot the ball collectively as a team about as good as we have in the four years I have been the head coach here," Barratt said. "It was quite a shooting performance. We got off to a good start and it carried to throughout the whole game."
Harmon led five Mustangs in double figures with 15 points. Keith added 14 points while Dill had 12 and Stites and Aubrey had 10 each. Rounding out the scoring were Damian Monsalvo with seven points and Wood and Billy Leach with two each.
Sports on 02/19/2015