Hounds split at NCMC Tournament

After beating Richmond by 11 points Friday night, the Spoofhound boys basketball lost a heartbreaker to Kirksville in overtime 51-50 Saturday and finished 1-1 at the NCMC Tournament in Trenton.

With the score knotted at 50, Kirksville's Nate Farnsworth made the second of two free throws with 1.8 seconds left in overtime and Maryville missed a desperation heave at the buzzer.

Maryville fell to 8-3 on the year, losing for the second time in the last three games following six straight wins. All three losses on the season have been against Class 4 or 5 teams.

Trailing most of regulation, Maryville battled back from a a six-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and tied it on a three-pointer by Jonathan Baker. The Hounds got the ball back with 12 seconds left, but didn't get off a shot on their final possession.

The Tigers finished the opening quarter up 11-6 and went to the half ahead 25-19. Both teams scored seven third quarter points, keeping the margin at six.

Baker and Tyler Kenkel finished as Maryville's top scorers with 15 points. Treyton Burch and Ty Hilsabeck each had seven points. Jacob Cacek scored four and Kyle Leslie chipped in two,

Kirksville's Tyson Grgurich was the game's high scorer with 18 points. Kevin Hennke joined him in double-figures with 11.

A night earlier, Maryville played a strong second half to pull away for a 53-42 win over Richmond.

Up two at the half, the Hounds gave up just 16 second half points while scoring 25.

Richmond hit nine three-pointers in the game, accounting for 27 of its 42 points. The Hounds counter-acted Richmond's long-range shooting exploits with an extremely balanced effort offensively.

All six of Maryville's scorers in the game produced at least six points.

Kenkel was the team leader with 13. Baker worked his way into double-figures as well with 10. Cacek scored nine points. Burch had eight followed by Leslie with seven and Hilsabeck with six.

Richmond's Reid Summers hit six three's and led all scorers with 19 points. Lendarrius Pritchett made the other three, 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.

The NCMC Tournament concluded a busy stretch for the Hounds of 11 games within the season's first month.

Maryville has the next two weeks off before resuming its season against Chillicothe Jan. 8.