New powers Tigers past Hawks

By Phil Cobb | December 29, 2023 |

TUCKER KLAMM/THE FORUM
Worth County senior Tyler New drives to the basket on Friday night in Trenton.

TRENTON, Mo. — Despite struggles from behind the arc for Worth County, senior guard Tyler New led Worth County to a 53-48 win over Gilman City on Friday night in Trenton.

A rough first quarter had the Tigers quickly facing a 7-point deficit. Worth County’s shooting woes looked to be detrimental to the young squad.

Worth County quickly created good looks from three and again and again, could not get them to hit. However, the confidence never halted and they kept firing to shoot their way out of it.

“We just keep taking them, I mean, they’re going to fall,” Tiger coach Les New said.

Tyler New put the first three ball in for Worth County. Going to his right he pulled up from deep and banked it in to end the first quarter.

“I knew the clock was winding down so I knew I had to get the ball up quick,” Tyler New explained. “I just got the ball and dribbled out and made it.”

Due to their struggles from distance, the Tigers trailed 16-12 heading into the second quarter.

Worth County scored 5-straight points to take the lead. Gilman City quickly battled back and the lead changed hands once more.

Off the bench, junior Cannon Fletcher hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the Tigers up 25-24 going into halftime.

Out of halftime, Gilman City came back at their strongest. Offensive rebounds and threes hurt Worth County as Gilman City scored 12 unanswered points. In a blink of the eye, Gilman City was up by double digits, 36-24 with four minutes to go in the third quarter.

Tyler New made an effort to take the game into his own hands. Two hard drives and a middle-of-the-lane mid range shot gave the Tigers 6-straight points and brought Worth County back to within seven points.

“We weren’t hitting very many shots, so I knew we had to get to the rim and shoot closer and better percentage looks,” he said.

From that point on it looked to be a conscious effort to get the ball into New’s hands and get him to the basket.

“We set a lot of ball screens for him and let him go downhill and create his shot or create somebody else’s shot,” said Les New.

A back and forth effort saw threes from freshmen Cole Ruby and Caleb New. Tyler New hit a pair of free throws and gave the Tigers a lead that held until three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

After a battle down low all night, the Gilman City center tied the game on an offensive rebound and putback.

Gilman City soon found themselves back on top until Tiger freshman guard Hayden Sanders tied the game up at 48 with a pair of clutch free throws.

With the game tied, Worth County looked inside for a high-percentage look and found freshman Bo Collins on the entry pass. Collins took his side to his defender and rose above two Gilman City players for a baby-hook to take the lead with a minute and a half to go.

“Early on in the game my shots weren’t falling and I was just encouraged to keep taking the shots that I know I can make, and that one fell,” Collins said.

Collins basket made the score 50-48 and it stayed that way until there was 45 seconds left in the contest.

Tyler New hit two separate free throws, Worth County got a stop on defense, and New hit another free throw to put the Tigers up, 53-48.

Tyler New finished the game with 28 points to lead Worth County. Fletcher had six, Ruby had five, Sanders had five, Collins had four, Caleb New had three and Ethan Lininger added two.

“It’s good to win and play a close game against a team we won’t see again,” Les New said. “We made a lot of mistakes but it’s things we can fix and it’s always good to win.”

The Tigers will host Stanberry Friday night before playing in the Stanberry Tournament next week.