74th ANNUAL CARTHAGE BOYS BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
Carthage High School
-From Reports by Joplin Globe Sports Online

RAY-PEC 73, CARTHAGE 55
Standout guard Iryn Allen, a junior, scored 30 points to help lift Raymore-Peculiar to a decisive win over Carthage in the Tigers' first game of the season.
The Panthers (2-0) advanced to tonight's semifinals to take on Nevada at 7. Carthage (0-1) plays Carl Junction in the consolation bracket at 5:30.
A make from halfcourt by Myles Sutton at the first-quarter buzzer gave Ray-Pec a 19-16 lead. And from there, the Panthers never trailed and led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
"We hit some early shots to keep us in it, but their physicality and size started to wear on us a bit," Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. "We're going to have to find a way to deal with it when we play against physical kids, physical basketball teams. We're obviously a young and new basketball team. So we have to figure it out on the fly."
A 12-1 Carthage run in the fourth quarter briefly trimmed the Ray-Pec lead to 10 points. But that was as close as the Tigers would get as the Panthers closed the game on an 11-3 surge — a span that saw Allen tally six points.
"I called a timeout when we cut (the Ray-Pec lead to 10 points)," Morris said. "I just let them know that that's what we could be. We will be a group that will try to pressure teams. They have a very effective press break and a very effective point guard that kind of hindered that. … We have to work on it and get better at it. But I told our guys to channel that no matter what the outcome was."
Joel Pugh paced the Carthage scoring with 14 points, while Max Templeman chipped in 13 points and Patrick Carlton 11 points.

CARTHAGE 47, CARL JUNCTION 41 (Consolation Semifinals) 
Carthage held off Carl Junction down the stretch to earn its first win of the season and advance to the fifth-place game to take on West Plains today at 12:30.
A triple by Alex Baker trimmed the Carthage lead to 43-41 with two minutes remaining. The Tigers then milked more than a minute off the clock on their ensuing possession before the Bulldogs fouled to send Patrick Carlton to the line, where he sank back-to-back freebies to make it a two-possession game, 45-41, with 0:53 to go.
Carl Junction (0-5) came up empty-handed on its final two possessions, and Carthage (1-1) sank two more free throws to bring the game to its final score.
Max Templeman and Joel Pugh finished as the leading scorers for Carthage with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Carlton and Justin Ray chipped in eight points apiece.
Alex Baker tallied 11 points and Blake Poorman had nine points to the pace the scoring for Carl Junction, which plays Leavenworth this morning at 11 in the seventh-place game.

WEST PLAINS 56, CARTHAGE 54 (Consolation Finals)
Carthage saw a nine-point lead dissipate in the fourth quarter as West Plains rallied for a comeback win in the fifth-place game.
The Zizzers (4-1) opened the final period on a 13-2 run, and after a 2-point make on a floater by Taylor Harrison, West Plains held a 48-46 lead with 3:44 left to play.
A 3-pointer by Joel Pugh pulled Carthage (1-2) to within a point, 52-51, with 56 ticks remaining. And following four straight free throw makes by the Zizzers, Justin Ray converted another triple for Carthage to trim the West Plains lead to 56-54 with just two seconds left.
The Tigers immediately fouled on West Plains' ensuing possession to preserve time, which led to a pair of misses by the Zizzers at the foul line. But after a Carthage rebound on the second missed freebie, a desperation heave by Silas Templeman from near midcourt missed short as the final buzzer sounded.
"We played better and executed in the first three quarters," Carthage coach Nathan Morris said. "They were missing a ton of shots there early. We decided to switch some things up … and we probably overstayed our welcome in the zone a little bit. … Then our youth and inexperience kind of showed. Patrick (Carlton) got into foul trouble, and he was playing really well to start the basketball game. When they realized Pat was out of the game, they attacked our young guards."
Carthage had three players score in double figures, with Pugh tallying 14 points, Max Templeman 12 points and Ray 11 points.
Harrison scored a game-high 18 points for West Plains, which trailed 23-17 at the end of the first quarter and 31-24 at halftime.