Menu
NMCC edged by Caruthersville in district semifinal 78-75
MALDEN -- If you were to see New Madrid County Central come within a shot of erasing a double-digit second half deficit, you'd likely expect a lights-out performance from junior standout Willie Jimerson to go with it.
Yet with the game on the line Tuesday night against Caruthersville in the Class 3, District 1 semifinals, Jimerson was glued to the bench most of the second half and picked up his fifth and final foul early in the fourth.
Thanks to the play of freshman Javarcus Word and a cast of unsung heroes, however, the Eagles steadily closed in on the Tigers until the closing seconds when a pair of free throws could have tied it.
Unfortunately for third-seeded NMCC, both shots fell short and a Tiger rebound essentially sealed the game as second-seeded Caruthersville escaped the upset, 78-75.
"The thing you want to see is the effort and the fight," NMCC head coach Travis Day said. "You want to see your boys fight from the beginning until the end and I think we did that. We played our butts off here."
Entering the fourth quarter only trailing by seven, 57-50, the Eagles had already overcame long odds just to stay in contention.
After allowing the Tigers to go on a 17-0 run at one point in the first quarter and trailing by as many as 18-points, the Eagles found themselves within six points at the half, 44-38.
NMCC's luck seemed to run out when, with 5:24 to play in the fourth, Jimerson picked up his fifth foul with his team still trailing by eight, 62-54. Already with two fouls entering the second half, he picked up two straight in under a minute in the third period and set the final five minutes of the quarter.
Despite only half a season playing at the varsity level, Word took over as primary ball-handler and scored a quick basket to close his team back within six points.
Another pair of Word buckets had his team within four points with just under four minutes to play only to see a 7-3 Tiger run pull them away by as many as seven points, 74-67, with 1:03 to play.
Only 38 seconds remained when Mikeal Walker started NMCC's comeback by following up a missed 3-point attempt with a bucket.
Steals from Gage Silman and Drew Palmer on Caruthersville's next two possessions led to a free throw and a layup by Word to cut the Eagles' deficit to a possession, 74-72, with 20 seconds to play.
"(Losing Jimerson) hurt us, but when he went out our play stayed the same," Day said. "We still got after it, played hard and still made some good plays. Drew Palmer made good plays for us and worked his butt off at the end there and that's what you want to see."
Caruthersville followed up an empty trip to the free throw line by regaining possession on a jump ball. Tyrone Alston sank both attempts to push the Tigers ahead 76-72 with 14 seconds to play.
With no room for error, the Eagles hustled down the court and Drew Palmer put up a hasty three. Palmer's shot was off the mark, but the junior drew a foul on the play and sunk all three free throws with 9.8 seconds left to leave NMCC trailing by a point.
Forced to foul, the Eagles saw the Tigers sink the second half of a pair of free throws to give NMCC the ball at the baseline with 7.4 seconds remaining.
Walker inbounded to Word, who drove down court and into the lane, where he was fouled with 2.2 seconds on the clock. Needing to sink both shots to tie, Word sunk to the ground after watching his first attempt miss its mark, followed by an intentionally missed second attempt to leave the Eagles trailing 77-75.
"It was one those things where you want the ball in his hands and then you're like, oh crap', he's going to be at the line," Day said of Word. "You take whatever you can get there. I told him in the locker room you'll get another chance at that and another opportunity."
The Eagles instantly fouled following Word's second miss and sent the Tigers to the line one last time. They once again only hit their second attempt to go up by three points and gave NMCC the ball with 0.5 seconds to play.
Walker inbound to Palmer, who was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.
"We had a lot of mental breakdowns there at the end," Tim Smith said. "Unfortunately when you're beating teams by 20 to 30 points on a nightly basis you're not in this situation. At the end of the day it's probably a blessing in disguise."
Behind Jimerson's team-high 22 points, Word finished the game with 20 points, including nine points in the fourth quarter and 13 points in the second half. Palmer and Walker contributed nine points each.
"(Word) just took over Jimerson's role and started attacking the rim," Smith said. "I've never seen a team chunk it up there all off-balance and it go in so much. We're lucky to get out of this game with a win."
For the Tiger's senior Darrell Monroe scored a game-high 29 points and just as importantly came away with several late game rebounds. It was Monroe out-jumping everyone for the rebound after Word's final free throw to prevent any chance of a NMCC put-back.
"I have five players averaging double-figures," Smith said. "We don't really need Darrell's points, although they're nice. But how Darrell contributes to us is his presence on defense. Mainly his rebounding. He creates so much. They double and triple team Darrell and creates so many opportunities for our other players."
Jeremy Grant was second on the team with 17 points, including 12 in the first quarter, and Alston added 14 points to the cause.
If not for a disaster of a start it might have been the Tigers forced into a last second shot. NMCC opened the game with a pair of quick buckets before the Tigers reeled off 17 straight points.
After leaving the first quarter trailing 30-13, the Eagles responded by outpacing Caruthersville 25-16 in the second period to enter the locker room only trailing by six points.
"I don't know if it was more of their press or more of our nerves," Day said of their bad start. "Because we were throwing it away to get rid of it then to make good passes and score. When we finally calmed down and started taking care of the ball we started getting good shots, attacking and got ourselves back in the game."
NMCC finished the year 12-10, having lost three of their last five games. They return essentially their entire roster next season with the injured Dre Wilson their only graduating senior.
| Caruthersville | 30 | 16 | 11 | 21 | - | 78 |
| NMCC | 13 | 25 | 12 | 25 | - | 75 |
CARUTHERSVILLE (78) -- Tyrone Alston 14, Jeremy Grant 17, Deshawn Lee 5, Coleman Tramble 4, Darrell Monroe 29, Malik Monroe 1, Jamall Johnson 8. FG 29, FT 18-31, F 26. (3-pointers: Alston 1, Lee 1. Fouled out: Grant, Lee, Johnson.)
NMCC (75) -- Willie Jimerson 22, Mikeal Walker 9, Jacarvus Word 20, Drew Palmer 9, Asten Newsom 5, Gage Silman 4, Kiel Causey 2, Deondray Jenkins 2. FG 25, FT 22-34, F 23. (3-pointers: Walker 1. Fouled out: Jimerson.)