After winning the regular season Big 8 West Conference title with a 6-0 record, the McDonald County eighth-grade boys' basketball team survived overtime in the semifinals before beating Lamar in the finals to win last week's Big 8 West Eighth-Grade Boys Basketball Tournament championship.
McDonald County jumped out to a 17-7 lead at halftime before Lamar outscored the Mustangs 10-6 in the third quarter to close 23-17. But McDonald County used an 8-7 advantage in the fourth quarter to seal the win. The game was held on Feb. 8 in Monett after being postponed from Feb. 7 in Nevada due to bad weather.
Weston Gordon led McDonald County with 11 points, followed by Sterling Woods and Cross Dowd with six points each, Dalton McClain with five and Jack Parnell three.
In the semifinals, McDonald County outscored Cassville, 4-2, in overtime to claim a 39-37 win.
Cassville jumped out to a 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Mustangs used a 14-9 edge in the second period to take a 22-17 lead at halftime.
Cassville cut the margin to 28-25 after three quarters and then outscored McDonald County 10-7 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
McClain and Woods scored 12 points each to lead McDonald County, followed by Dowd with 10 points, Gordon with four and Parnell one. Dowd and McClain each had a basket in overtime for McDonald County's winning points.
Seventh Grade
Seneca used an 11-5 advantage in overtime to claim a 37-31 decision over the McDonald County seventh grade in the championship game of the Big 8 West seventh grade tournament held on Feb. 5 in Mount Vernon.
Destyn Dowd led McDonald County with 18 points, including all five of the Mustangs' points in overtime. Rounding out the scoring for McDonald County were Toby Moore with seven points and Xavier Sosa with six.
McDonald County advanced to the finals with a 41-25 win over Lamar in the semifinals.
The Mustangs were led by Dowd with 20 points, while Sosa added 10 points. Moore had eight points, followed by Sam Barton with two and Rylan Armstrong with one.
Both teams close out their season this week in the Wild West Junior High Boys Basketball Tournament.
Sports on 02/14/2019