Monett cubs basketball defeats McAuley Catholic

Lady Cubs defeat Mt. Vernon, reach 13-4 overall, look to East Newton
 
The Monett High School boys basketball team played three games last week, winning one and losing two.     
The Cubs hosted Bolivar on Friday, Jan. 23 but fell to the Liberators, 63-44.
Bolivar led 15-13 after the first quarter and pushed that lead to 30-24 by the half. Bolivar shot lights out in the third quarter, outscoring Monett 23-5 to lead 53-29. In the final quarter of play, the Cubs were able to outscore Bolivar, 15-10.
Jack Stephens led Monett with 13 points and Bryce Hoyt added 11 points in the game.
“We did a lot of really good things in the first half, shot the ball really well making six threes,” said head coach Andrew Ballock. “In the third quarter, Bolivar got rolling offensively with a pair of and one layups as well as a pair of made threes to push their lead and put us in a hole going into the final quarter. As I mentioned above, we did some good things, I loved our energy and effort that our guys played with, but the third quarter scoring from Bolivar was too much for us. Bolivar is a well-coached team with great personnel.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 20, Monett traveled to Clever and came home with a 61-48 loss.
The Jays led 15-9 after the first quarter and 32-19 at the half. Monett was able to cut the deficit in the third quarter by outscoring Clever 15-9 but still trailed, 41-34. Clever found their shooting touch in the final quarter of play, hitting for 20 points to close out the win.
Alex Meeks led Monett with 17 points and Stephens added 11 points in the loss.    
“We did a lot of really good things throughout the duration of the game,” said Ballock. “But had a bad stretch late in the first quarter and into the second quarter where we turned the ball over allowing Clever to push their lead. We played a good second half and made a push to end the third, going into the fourth quarter only down seven, but eventually ran out of gas. We are continuing to grow as a team and getting better every day.”
The Cubs started the week by traveling to McAuley Catholic on Monday, Jan. 19 and came home with a 50-32 win.
The Warriors led 11-3 after the first quarter but the Cubs played shut down defense in the second quarter and found their shooting touch, torching McAuley Catholic for 20 points to lead 23-14 at the half. Monett continued their hot hand in the third quarter, adding 18 more points to increase their lead to 41-28. In the final quarter, the Cubs allowed just four points to close out the game.
Meeks led Monett with 11 points.
“We started the game slow and struggled to score,” said Ballock. “We decided to switch defenses and play full court man to man and speed the game up. Our group played really well together, eight guys touched the floor and every one of them scored at least four points. It was really fun to watch our team work together and to see everyone have some offensive success. We played a great team game.”
Monett is now 7-11 on the season and were scheduled to play at East Newton on Friday night.

Girls basketball
The Lady Cubs played in the Lady Comet Classic in Marionville last week, finishing in fourth place.
Monett played Crane in the third-place game on Friday, and lost to the Lady Pirates, 51-44.
Monett led 13-11 after the first quarter and increased that lead to 29-23 by the half. The Lady Pirates played better defense in the third quarter and allowed just seven points to the Lady Cubs, while putting up 16 points to take a 39-36 lead. In the fourth quarter, Crane added another 12 points to secure the seven-point win.
Kilee Wilson led Monett with 13 points.
On Thursday, Jan. 22 Monett defeated Mt. Vernon, 53-49, in the consolation side of the bracket.
The Lady Mt’neers jumped out to a 20-8 first quarter lead, but the Lady Cubs battled back, outscoring Mt. Vernon 21-8 to take a 29-28 halftime lead. Monett continued to play great defense in the third quarter, allowing just eight points to increase their lead to 39-36. Monett was able to hold on in a close-scoring fourth quarter, outscoring Mt. Vernon 14-13 to win the game by four points.
Wilson led Monett with 30 points.
Monett opened the tournament against Reeds Spring on Tuesday and fell to the Lady Wolves, 54-43.
Reeds Spring jumped out to a 16-9 first quarter lead but the Lady Cubs battled back to cut the lead to 25-21 by the half. Reeds Spring added another 13 points in the third quarter to increase their lead to 38-31. In the final quarter of play, the Lady Wolves continued to shoot the ball well, adding another 16 points to their total to win the game by nine points.
Wilson was the leading scorer for Monett with 27 points.
“I’m proud of our team’s effort throughout the tournament,” said head coach Josh Kleine. ”We are battling the injury bug a little bit. We hope to get healthy in this last stretch of the season.”
Monett is 13-4 on the season and were scheduled to play at Clever on Monday night and East Newton tomorrow night.