A key Big 8 Conference showdown between the McDonald County Mustangs and the Monett Cubs quickly turned into a rout as the Mustangs dominated from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer on the way to a 61-33 win on Jan. 12 at MCHS.
"We knew coming in we were going to have to go out and execute offensively and defensively and I thought we did that," said coach Trent Barratt. "I just like the toughness of our team right now."
Daton Aubrey scored the game's first four points, including one of his two three-pointers in the first quarter, to give the Mustangs the lead for good from the start. Aubrey finished the quarter with nine points despite missing the final 1:24 after picking up his second foul. His effort help McDonald County jump out to a 20-6 lead at the end of the period.
McDonald County stretched the lead to 37-15 at intermission behind five points in the quarter from Dagan Stites and Max Dill as Aubrey and Kole Keith were both out with two fouls.
Keith came back in the third quarter, scoring 10 of the Mustangs 14 points, to give McDonald County a 51-23 lead entering the fourth quarter.
"When we have guys that can beat people off the dribble and then find open shooters --± that makes our offense pretty tough," Barratt said. "We have four guys that can shoot the three and it makes us hard to guard."
But it was the Mustangs defense that Barratt said was key for McDonald County avenging a loss earlier in the season to the Cubs in the championship game of the Carthage tournament.
"When you are playing a team like Monett and hold them to 15 points in the first half, you are locked in," Barratt said. "We guarded them a little tougher this time. What it boils down for these guys is that they are four-year players and they have bought in. One thing we preach is that we are going to get better as the season goes along."
Keith finished with 18 points to lead four Mustangs in double figures. Aubrey and Stites added 11 each while Dill had 10. Rounding out the scoring were Drew Harmon with eight, Cooper Reece with two and Billy Leach one.
Logan Coones led Monett with 11 points.
McDonald County improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the Big 8 Conference. The Mustangs host Republic on Friday night in a nonconference contest. Games begin at 6 p.m.
McDonald County claimed a 43-35 win in the junior varsity game. Peyton Barton scored 10 points and Reece nine to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring were Sergio Dozal and Grant Cooper with six each, Noah Jones five, Cole DelosSantos four and Rustin Lett three.
Monett held off a fourth quarter McDonald County rally for a 38-35 win in the freshman game. McDonald County was led Blake Gravette with 16 points and Kirby Townsend nine while Dillon Aubrey had six and Boston Dowd had four.
Webb City
The Webb City Cardinals handed McDonald County its fourth loss of the season with a 48-46 win Monday might at Webb City High School.
The Cardinals survived a late McDonald County rally that saw the Mustangs take its second lead of the game at 44-42 with 28.4 seconds left on Daton Aubrey's three-point play after his steal of an inbounds pass.
But Webb City answered on its ensuing possessions when sophomore Payton Guiot hit a three-pointer with 12 seconds left for a 45-44 Cardinal advantage.
Guiot added three free throws down the stretch, when the Mustangs were forced to foul, to seal the win.
Webb City scored the game's first seven points on the way to taking an 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
McDonald County went on a 6-2 run to start the second quarter to tie the game a 20-20, but Webb City closed out the first half by outscoring the Mustangs 9-5 to take a 29-25 edge into the locker room at halftime.
The third quarter was tight defense and missed opportunities on defense as the Mustangs outscored Webb City 4-2 in the quarter to trail 31-29 entering the fourth period.
Harmon hit a trey to open the scoring in the final period to give McDonald County its first lead at 32-31 with 7:22 left. Webb City came back to take a 40-36 lead with a minute left before Aubrey drove the lane for a dunk with 55 seconds left to get McDonald County within two, but Guiot scored the Cardinals final eight points to key Webb City's victory.
Aubrey finished with 18 points and Harmon had 16 to lead McDonald County while Keith added nine points and Stites two to round out the scoring.
Guiot led the Cardinals with 19 points while 6-8 Preston Ellis and 6-7 Zach Davidson had 10 each.
Webb City handed McDonald County a 45-30 loss in the junior varsity game. McDonald County scoring was as follows: Lett eight points, Reece seven, Jones six, Devon Aubrey four, Dozal three and Barton two.
The Cardinals made it a clean sweep with a 45-33 win in a freshman game.
Gravette scored 18 points to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs were Dowd with eight points, Zack Woods three and Cris Monsalvo and Dillon Aubrey two each.
Sports on 01/21/2016