Wildcats dunk rival Monett 67-47

On Senior Night at Cassville, the Wildcats pitched their resume to the rest of Class 4 District 12 with a 67-47 win over the Monett Cubs on Tuesday night. The 20-point victory over their conference, district and Highway 37 rival helped Cassville to a higher seed in the upcoming district tournament at Monett.

Six different players scored for Monett in the opening period against Cassville and helped propel the Cubs to a 14-13 lead at the first break. Chris Eimer scored twice from close range to fuel an early Monett comeback after Cassville led 9-4 on Axl Larson's baby hook at the 3:16 mark.

Jacob Fair opened the second quarter scoring with a long trey for Monett, and the Cubs held a 17-13 lead. The Wildcats tied it almost immediately on layups by Larson and Chris Smith.

Smith then fed Joel Maher with a bounce pass in the paint, and his layup gave the Wildcats their first lead of the period, 19-17. The seesaw period saw five lead changes, and Cassville stretched to a 30-26 halftime lead on Josh Lewright's old-fashioned three-point play just three seconds before the horn.

Monett's Kyle Woods scored 7 first-half points to keep the Cubs within striking range.

The Wildcats stormed out of the locker room with Larson knocking down a trey on the opening possession. Monett tried to answer, but Cassville held nine-point leads on four occasions in the frame. Lewright's line-drive trey from the right corner in the final minute created a 46-37 score at the final break.

Cassville's turnstile defensive rotation and relentless pressure finally wore Monett down in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats rushed to a 16-3 run before Monett's Ty Goetz took a timeout with 4:52 on the clock with his team trailing by 62-40.

With 3:28 to play, Cassville's Evan Stubblefield brought down the house with a rim-rattling dunk off a perfect lob from Larson. The benches cleared soon after, and the Wildcats cruised to the 67-47 win.

Monett scorers: Kyle Woods, 9; Tyler Webb, 9; Chris Eimer, 6; Jacob Fair, 6; Trenton Pierce, 6; Travis Thompson, 4; Jarred Witt, 3; Tyler Green, 2; and Christian Wooldridge, 2.

Cassville scorers: Axl Larson, 18; Josh Lewright, 17; Evan Stubblefield, 11; Ricky Nichols, 9; Joel Maher, 5; Jordan Bailey, 3, Chris Smith, 2; and John Cavness, 2.