CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers boys basketball team finished in 3rd place at the 75th Annual Tiger Invitational topping West Plains 58-54 Saturday, Dec. 12.
Joel Pugh led the Tigers with a team high 18 points including five 3-pointers. He went 3-for-5 from the free-throw line and added 4 rebounds. Justin Ray chipped in with 13 points going 4-for-7 from the arc and adding a free throw.
Max Templeman led the team with 7 assists and contributed 12 points to the win. Clay Kinder had 8 points for the Tigers and finished with 4 rebounds. Britt Coy had 3 points and Tyler Willis and Sylas Browning finished with 2 points apiece to round out the scoring for Carthage.
“Our kids were tested against 3 big, physical teams this weekend and withstood the test,” said Carthage Coach Nathan Morris. “We struggled to win close games last year and finally pushed through to take home 3rd place in our home tournament. We had some kids take the next step to finally turn the corner for our team.”
The Tigers are now 3-1 on the year and host the Central Bulldogs Tuesday, Dec. 14 at the Carthage High School. The freshmen tip off at 4:30 p.m. with the JV and Varsity teams to follow.
