Thunder make statement with big win over Spoofhounds
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Nodaway Valley sophomore Tye Hoyt throws a pass on Tuesday against Maryville in Graham.
GRAHAM, Mo. — Tuesday night in Graham felt like a big-game environment. Ultimately, it won’t affect conference or district standings for either Maryville or Nodaway Valley, but the Nodaway County clash is a game that needs to be played every season.
Both communities descended on Graham in full force for the varsity doubleheader and after the Spoofhounds collected bragging rights in the girls’ game, the Thunder boys responded with a 60-48 win over Maryville.
“We weren’t supposed to play them and then we added them later in the season,” Nodaway Valley freshman Braxton McGinness said. “I was telling Coach that I wanted to play them. He added it and I was ready the whole time.”
The Thunder came out with a ton of energy and took a 11-4 lead in the first quarter. Maryville responded with a 11-0 run to grab a 15-11 lead after senior Lucas Vierthaler made a steal and layup.
The Thunder one-upped the Spoofhound run with an immediate 13-0 spurt triggered by a 3-pointer by McGinness. Sophomore Tye Hoyt had five points and senior Lane Larabee had four during the run.
“For us — to just not lose our composure, keep our heads down and ready to attack — offensively and defensively, it was great,” Nodaway Valley coach Shawn Emerson said.
Spoofhound sophomore Jackson Dredge beat the first-half buzzer with a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 24-18 and Luke Allen opened the third quarter with another to draw within three.
The interior game for Nodaway Valley did a lot of heavy lifting in the third quarter as they gave up height, but were dominant on the boards. Preston Jenkins had four points and Tyler Gray had three during a 12-2 run to extend the lead to 39-25.
“They just worked their butt off,” Larabee said of the bigs. “All week at practice, we did drills and stuff, and they just knew what they had to do.”
Maryville briefly quelled momentum with another buzzer-beating 3-pointer, this one from Colsen Freeman, to cut the lead to 39-28.
Nodaway Valley grew the lead to 60-39 in the fourth quarter before Maryville closed with a 9-0 run.
The Thunder were led by McGinness with 15 points, Larabee with 14 and Gray with 12. Hoyt added eight points, while Jenkins had six, Jax Cowden had four, and Chandler Morrow had one.
“We’ve got some huge conference games coming up, so we are just trying to get back to work, build on this one and keep winning,” McGinness said.
Maryville was powered by Dredge’s game-high 16 points while Vierthaler had seven, Kyler Skidmore added six, Allen had five, Tyson Atwell had four, Lucas Ziegler and Freeman had three each, and Kolby Scadden and Miles Poynter had two each.
“We knew they had some size on us, so we were going to have to move the ball around and move our feet on defense, and we executed,” Larabee said.
Nodaway Valley will host Worth County on Friday while Maryville has a week off and will host Kearney next Tuesday.
“Yeah, we are excited that we played Maryville, but we play Worth County on Friday and for us, it is Courtwarming,” Emerson said. “We can’t leave the court thinking: we just beat Maryville. We have to leave the court thinking: next team up.”
Nodaway Valley 74, DeKalb 9
Nodaway Valley had 13 different players score in last Friday’s 74-9 win over DeKalb. The group was led by Deontrae Mincy off the bench with 11 points while Braxton McGinness and Tyler Gray each had 10.
Tye Hoyt, Preston Jenkins and Jax Cowden each had eight, while Lane Larabee had six, Joe Smock had four, Chandler Morrow, Aiden Fast, Grey Hunt and Brayden Sipes each had two, and Brody McGinness added one.
