BY LUCAS DAVIS
Friday night's 64-40 homecoming loss to Republic wasn't exactly the way Webb City wanted to wrap up the regular season and Central Ozark Conference play.
The Tigers (21-6, 9-0 COC) raced out to an 11-2 lead early in the first quarter before finishing the first half with a 22-12 advantage. Webb City (14-10, 4-5 COC) came out in the third attacking the rim, trimming the lead to seven on several occasions as the Cardinals traded shots with Republic. Unfortunately, the Tigers closed the third on a 10-2 run to build a 17-point cushion on the way to the win.
"We were really bad offensively," Cardinals coach Jason Horn said. "We didn't get the ball to the paint.
Anytime you don't make the defense collapse, trying to score off east-to-west passes, you're not going to be very successful. I thought that was a big key to the game."
Drew McMillin had a big hand in giving the Tigers an early lead, knocking down three 3-pointers in the first quarter. He finished with four conversions from beyond the arc on the way to a team-high 17 points.
"We didn't stick to our defensive assignments," Horn said. "We identified Drew as maybe the best shooter in our league right now. We let him get loose a couple times, and if you give him daylight, he will make you pay."
Leading by 10 to start the third, Republic got on the board first with a free throw before senior Alex Gaskill grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback and cut to the basket for an inside score on back-to-back possessions to trim the deficit to 27-20 with 4:20 to play.
"At the start of the third quarter, I though we did a good job of working the ball inside-out," Horn said. "We were patient and dug into their lead a little bit, but give credit to Republic. They made the adjustments and stayed consistent on offense."
Gaskill finished with a team-high 17 points in his final regular-season game inside the Cardinal Dome.
"He is one of the best players in this area and in our conference," Horn said. "He can play inside and out, but I thought he did a really nice job of trying to lead this team tonight. I know he was frustrated at times, but he was calm, level-headed and tried walking some of the younger guys through some things. You can't replace a kid like that."
Terrell Kabala added nine points for the Cardinals, while Nickhai Howard contributed six points.
Broc Smith led third-quarter closing surge with seven of the 10 points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the league-champion Tigers. He finished with 14 points, while Race Looney, who contributed the other three points in the run, closed with 16 points.
Webb City returns to action on Wednesday as the host and top seed for the Class 4 District 12 tournament.
"This loss is good and bad," Horn said. "Losing (the final regular-season) game on Friday is the bad, but the good is we don't have an eight-day layoff before we play next. We can go to work on Monday and get ready for our first district opponent."
Joplin Globe 02/23/2019 (Used by permission)