Nevada Tigers take narrow victory over El Do Bulldogs

Nevada Daily Mail

With 26.7 seconds left in the game and the Tigers leading the El Dorado Springs Bulldogs 56-53, Bubba Banes stepped to the charity stripe and hit one, then two free throws to give the Tigers a two possession lead down the stretch, which was enough for the Tigers to hold on and win 58-53 to finish the regular season with a 9-14 record.

"Bubba Banes has struggled with his free throws and all he needed was to hit one and he got both," Nevada head coach John McNeley said after Friday night's double win for the Tigers.

The Nevada JV started the night with their first win of the season beating the El Dorado Springs JV 56-46, led by Silas Smith with 24 points.

"The JV played as well as they could tonight," McNeley said.

As for the Nevada varsity McNeley said they came out and "played with heart and passion."

McNeley said that he had told several people that the Tigers would have a better game than they have had recently.

And there was little doubt Friday that they were playing at a higher level than recently. After hitting only 4 of 15 from the charity stripe in their game with Butler Tuesday, the Tigers improved to 12 of 17 Friday night.

"We got some big performances and big plays," McNeley said.

He said that Joe Ferry, who scored 13 points, got in a position Friday night to get some offensive rebounds, which has not been the case recently.

Another key he said is that Ross Wolfe, who has been battling illness and nagging injuries all season is as healthy as he has been all year.

The Tigers next game will be at 7:45 Monday night when they will be looking for their 10th win of the season when take on the Clinton Cardinals in the first round of the Class 4 District 12 tournament in Wynn Gymnasium.

McNeley said that the Tigers beat Clinton earlier this season with exactly the same team as now, however Clinton is playing better than they were in the first game.