Panthers’ big third quarter sinks Tigers

By Jon Dykstra | February 4, 2025 |

JON DYKSTRA/TIMES-TRIBUNE
Worth County forward Ryder Smyser slices through the lane on Tuesday in Grant City against Pattonsburg.

GRANT CITY, Mo. — Worth County couldn’t have drawn up a much better start than they had on Tuesday with a 19-13 lead over Pattonsburg early in the second quarter. The Tigers were unable to maintain that offensive efficiency with a 43-39 loss.

“It has kinda been a tendency for us this year,” Worth County coach Les New said. “We always have one quarter where we flat out forget how to score. It happened again tonight in that third.”

Guards Caleb New and Hayden Sanders each came off the bench in the game and played limited minutes as each return from injury. It was New who knocked down the 3-pointer for the 19-13 lead after Cannon Fletcher had two first-quarter 3-pointers and Cole Ruby had another.

“When you are injured like this, it is just hard to get a rhythm,” Caleb New said. “That’s why I need to get on the shooting machine and get some shots up.”

After that shot, the Tigers struggled to find anything else outside the arc despite Pattonsburg sitting in a zone defense to attempt to limit senior Karson Briner. The Tigers generated plenty of open shots, but could not find the bottom of the net.

“We just didn’t hit enough shots tonight,” Caleb New said. “We struggle against zone and we’ve got to come out and hit shots with confidence, especially me. I have not been shooting with much confidence.”

Pattonsburg went on a 17-4 run which extended deep into the third quarter. The only Worth County points during the run came from Briner, but shortly after his two scores, he picked up his third foul and went to the bench.

With Pattonsburg building a 30-23 lead, New responded with two foul shots then answered a Panther 3-pointer with a deep one of his own to beat the third-quarter buzzer and make it 33-28 to end the quarter.

Ruby opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to cut the margin to two points, but that was as close as the Tigers would get with Pattonsburg responding with a 5-0 run.

“We just couldn’t hit shots,” Ruby said. “I was probably like 2-for-15 from the 3-point line. We’ve got to figure out how to break a 3-2 defense too.”

Ruby cut the margin to 40-36 and the Panthers went into stall-mode trying to drain the clock. The Tigers had back-to-back steals and fast break opportunities, but each time, layups in traffic missed the mark. Pattonsburg went 2-of-4 from the foul line in the closing minute and New hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 10.9 seconds left to trim the margin to 42-39.

The Tigers fouled freshman Brandon Heath and he missed the first free throw, but hit his second to seal the 43-39 win. New attempted to draw a foul on his final 3-point attempt, but Pattonsburg avoided that and the off-balance shot missed its mark.

New finished with 14 points off the bench to lead the Tigers while Ruby had 10, Fletcher and Briner had six each and Sanders had three. Pattonsburg was led by 21 for junior Gavin Humphrey, 11 for Drake Sperry, eight for Heath and three for Reagan Coin.

Worth County hosts it Courtwarming on Friday where the opponent will be St. Joseph Christian.

“We just got to keep our heads up and keep moving forward,” Ruby said.

Nodaway Valley 49, Worth County 30

The Nodaway Valley freshman duo of Jax Cowden and Braxton McGinness led the Thunder to a 49-30 win over Worth County last Friday. Cowden had 18 points and 11 rebounds while McGinness added 10 points.

Lane Larabee had seven points while Preston Jenkins and Tye Hoyt each had five and Tyler Gray added four.

Worth County was led by Cole Ruby with 18 points while Cannon Fletcher had five, Frank Hoff, Karson Briner and Lucas Frisch each had two and Ryder Smyser added one.