Heritage Holds Off Nevada Rally

—   Rogers Heritage led by 10 points with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but War Eagles coach Tom Olsen couldn’t breathe easily until sophomore Connor Hirsh caught a long inbounds pass in the frontcourt to run out the clock Tuesday night.

Nevada put on a late rally fueled by 6-foot-2 senior Silas Smith, but Heritage held on for a 61-59 victory in the 66th annual Carthage Invitational.

ROGERS HERITAGE 61, NEVADA 59

Rogers Heritage 11 18 14 18 — 61

Nevada 10 10 13 26 — 59

Rogers Heritage (3-1): Thomas 14, Hirsh 14, Fryauf 10, Kinnamon 9, Olsen 7, Greenway 4, Robbins 4.

Nevada (0-1): Smith 28, Colopy 16, Brandt 9, Mitchell 3, Wolfe 3, Ketterman 2.

Smith’s 3-pointer pulled Nevada (0-1) to within 60-58 with 6.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Wyatt Kinnamon made just one of two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining to leave the Tigers an opening.

However, Smith, who poured in a game-high 28 points, made one free throw and was whistled for going over the line with four-tenths of a seconds left. Heritage (3-1) got the ball in to Hirsh on a long pass end it.

Heritage, seeded third, will now take on second-seeded Joplin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in a semifinal.

Olsen was pleased with the win, but admitted it could have been easier.

“Obviously our next step is to start closing out games,” Olsen said. “We didn’t do a great job against Subiaco, didn’t do a good job tonight. That’s one of our projects before January gets here.”

Heritage enjoyed a strong third quarter and led by as many as 15 as senior Xavier Thomas scored eight of his 14 points in the quarter on driving layups.

But Nevada rallied as Smith, a 6-2 senior, scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.

“He really kind of put his team on his shoulders there late and made a bunch of shots and we really didn’t have an answer for him,” Olsen said.

Hirsh, a 6-0 sophomore, also added 14 off the bench, while Luke Fryauf chipped in 10 for Heritage.

However, Nevada coach John McNeley said Heritage executed better offensively and were more physical on defense. McNeley also thought his team struggled since it was its first game of the season.

“Their toughness in terms of guarding us physically bothered us,” McNeley said. “Then their easy points they produced those were two things that were really key.

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