Mustangs fall to Eagles, look for more offense in second round of tournament

Dec. 27—NEOSHO, Mo. — McDonald County battled closely with Huntsville, Arkansas, throughout the first half and gave itself a chance to earn a win in the opening round of the Neosho Holiday Classic at Neosho High School on Wednesday morning.

The McDonald County Mustangs used a zone defense to keep the Eagles' offense at bay for most of the third quarter. Eventually, Huntsville (12-5) found some offense again and pulled away for a 54-45 win over McDonald County (4-7).

"I thought we took care of the ball in the first half. We only had a couple turnovers, which is very solid for us," Mustangs' head coach Brandon Joines said. "Then we had nine in the second half which gets them out in their offense, especially when they're live-ball turnovers. ... Obviously we're disappointed in the loss but we have to come back tomorrow because it's a tournament and it's not going to stop."

McDonald County returns to the court at 11:30 a.m. Thursday against the loser of tonight's finale between Neosho and Westwood, from Memphis, Tennessee.

"We have to come back (Thursday) ready to fight," Joines said. "If we play Westwood, we will learn a little bit more about them coming up. If it's Neosho, it's a rival. If we need some sort of a pregame speech to get up for a rival game then I don't know what else to do."

The size down low is something Joines noted that he wants to see his guys to take advantage of with players like Josh Pacheco and Toby Moore. He believes that will give them more offensive success moving forward.

After some struggles offensively in the second quarter, the Mustangs started to find success again in the third quarter through their defense. They held the Huntsville offense to just 3 points for the majority of the quarter. The score was 33-31 after a Destyn Dowd basket at the rim went in. Then it was 36-34 after Carlin converted one of two free throws.

"We were contesting. I thought we did a good job of getting in the passing lanes so they weren't able to make those skips and it did keep it close," Joines said.

Huntsville was settling for set shots outside the arc and didn't seem to have any movement towards the rim for awhile. Even when the ball did get

inside the arc, it seemed the Eagles couldn't convert around the basket.

"When we did get it in there, we didn't finish," River Gosvener, head coach of the Eagles, said. "That gave their zone some confidence to come out and get us and they got their hands on a lot of passes. ... As far as that, we have to get better on passing and decision-making."

Around the three-minute mark of the third stanza, the Eagles started to find more offense making two 3-pointers and a layup to close the third quarter and lead 44-34.

"That's a lack of focus and attention-to-detail and we know better. We just have to be better tomorrow," Joines added.

Huntsville's Chace Usrey drew a charge during the third quarter that Gosvener thought helped to give his team a boost and add to the lead.

Game-chaning play

"A charge is the single-most game-changing play in my opinion and obviously after that we hit some shots and were able to pull away," Gosvener said.

McDonald County trailed from start to finish but had the score within one possession on multiple occasions.

The Mustangs trailed just 10-8, 13-11, 15-13 and then 19-16 after one quarter of play. Cael Carlin drilled a 3-pointer at the end of the opening period to get the score to 19-16.

McDonald County continued to stick around in the second quarter as Toby Moore converted a layup to make it 22-20. But then Huntsville started to stretch its lead.

The Eagles' offense was powered by the outside shot all game long. They were a total 10 of 28 shooting beyond the 3-point line. Payden Thomas made 4 of 12 from out there and led the team with 20 points. Caden Smith and Justin Jatios both shot 3 for 7 from outside and finished with 11 points apiece.

Carlin cashed in another triple at the end of the second quarter to make it 33-25 and inch his team closer before the half.

The fourth quarter didn't see much change in the score difference between the two teams. The Eagles got their lead up to 14 and the Mustangs reduced that to just 7 at 48-41 and 50-43 but that was it.

"We were happy to get out with a win even though we didn't play our best ball," Gosvener said. "The first win is always the toughest to get. You have the nerves and obviously you want to play on the winner's side of the bracket and give yourself a chance to play for that trophy."

Dowd also fouled out at the 4:47-mark of the final period.

"I don't fault him at all because he was trying to create. He was trying to make things happen and we needed somebody to do that," Joines said of Dowd.

The Eagles spread the ball around well with Thomas at 20 points; Smith, 11; Jatios, 11 and Kayden McCubbin with 10.

They did that without their main guard being able to play because of illness. Gosvener noted that he will talk with that absent player tonight and see if he can make the trip over for Huntsville's game on Thursday.

"It is by design a little bit. Our guys do a good job of trying to share the ball and trying to get each other shots," Gosvener said.

That showed as the team totaled 14 assists to McDonald County's 5. Smith added 8 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Huntsville in both categories.

"(Smith)'s a utility guy. He can score it. He can rebound it. He can pass it. He's one of out better passers. What he lacks athletically as far as jumping and his speed, he more than makes up for with his mental side of the game. He's a very smart player," Gosvener said.

The Mustangs were led by Carlin's 17 points and Dowd added 11.